^ 


<vif.!'Vi\TDC/> 


_^.0f 


55 


'0-v 


% 


inr  UTti 


I'm  Cr 


.c  linn  ahv/-, 


iiDD^nv^. 


'I, 


ifj; 


o 


VERVa 


■^AaaAiNflJwv 


o 


^A{13AlNn-3WV 


.OFCAUFOri', 


% 


Vf 


ARYGr         4;;^l•LIBRARYQ^ 


/A 


ic     «:? 


.IFO%        ,>;,0F  CAIIF0% 
»  \  o      2= 

ft 


fie 
< 


^V^EUNIVERy//) 


^ 


n 


oc 


!^d 


^lOSANCElfx^ 
%a3AINn-3WV 


^     ti? 


■'%daAINn-3WV^  ^<!/0JllV3JO'^      \ 


^OFCAIIFO/?^      ^< 


^^Aavaani^      ^<: 


VER5-//, 


VERI//, 


^lOSANCElfj^ 


-s;^lllBRARY<?/^ 


-^^tUBRARYO^. 


/•soi^""      "^aaAiNnawv^       ^ojiwojo^     ^ojuvdjo"^ 


^lOSANCElfj> 


fsov^      ^/^a^AiNnmv 


^QFCAllFO% 


^OFCAllFORfe, 


.^WEUNIVERVa 


<J513DNVS01^ 
AWEUNIVERy//) 


%iivaan#      %3i3dnvsoi^ 


mO/^..       ^^lllBRARY^k. 


p. 


AWEIJNIVER5//1 


AjclOSANCElfj> 

CO 


j^lllBRARY<?/;^      ^ 


/o.joS>     ^ojiwjjo'f^       <rii33Nvsm^     '%a3AiNn-3WV^       %ojnv3-30^     '^^ 


.IFO/?^      ^OFCAllFOff^ 


^\WEUNIVER%       ^lOSANCElfj^ 


^OFCAIIFO/?^      ^^ 


PICTURES   OF   RUSSIAN    HISTORY 
AND  RUSSIAN  LITERATURE 


j;jf>wyrTpr-- 


jJ^   ..-j-^:^^'' 


f^' 


'>v 


vc 


■\» 


^ 


J- 


A 


1^- 


tt.^J 


■?*!^'^'^ 


f 


LotDcU  Lectured 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 


RUSSIAN    LITERATURE 


BY 


PRINCE  SERGE  WOLKONSKY 


LAMSON,  WOLFFE   AND   COMPANY 

BOSTON.  NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
MDCCCXCVII 


\\ 


1i)()53G 


G)PYRIGHT,    1897, 

Bv  LAMSON,  WOLFFE  AND  COMPANY. 
All  rights  reserved. 


•      •     •     •  •    • 


Xorbooli  l^rras 

J.  S.  Cu.hing  &  Co.  -  Berwick  Ic  Smith 

Norwood  Mu*.  U.S.A- 


IV^ 


VK 


16 


No  other  histflty  would  I  have  than  that  of  our  fore- 
fathers such  as  God  has  willed  it. 

POUSHRIN. 

In  days  of  doubt,  in  days  of  distressing  meditations 
on  the  fate  of  my  country,  —  in  thee  alone  I  trust,  O 
Russian  lantpiage,  —  great,  mighty,  truthful,  free.  .  .  . 
It  is  impossible  to  disbelieve  that  such  a  language 
should  not  have  been  given  to  a  great  people. 

TOLRGENIEFF. 


Frovi  February  5,  1896,  till  May  5,  1897,  these  Leaures 
were  wholly  or  partly  delivered  in 

Lowell  Institute,  Boston. 

Harvard  University,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Columbia  University,  New  York. 

Wasliington  Club,  IVashington,  D.C. 

University  of  Chicago. 

Steinway  Hall,  Chicago,  10. 

Twentieth  Century  Club,  Chicago,  lU. 

All  Souls'  Church,  Chicago,  III. 

Art  Museum,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.Y. 

Carnegie  Hall,  New  York. 


■i: 


1 


There  are  txoo  iindi  of  re^etemlatn/es 
M  <J  mmh'ersily  :  the  one  ref  resents  tkt 
degrte  of  (Utture  in  the  country:  the 
other.  Its  yoMthfulness,  its  wants,  its  ew' 
ergies,  its  passions.  . .  .  The  mntversity 
is  the  best  barometer  of  a  sodety. 

N.  T.  riROGOFF. 


Co  0mrrtcan  tzintt)rr0tcth( 


TO   PROFESSORS   FOR   THEIR    KIND    ENCOURAGEMENT 

TO  STUDENTS  FOR   THEIR    HEARTY   RESPONSIVENESS 

IN  SIGN  OP  GRATITUDE 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DEDICATED 

P.  S.  W. 


CONTENTS 

LECTURE   I 
(Introductory) 

Foreign  notions  of  Russia :  reasons  for  their  scarcity.  Our  ob- 
ject. The  aesthetical  element  in  historical  studies.  Art  as 
promoter  of  sociability.     Nationalism  or  cosmopolitism? 

Bird's-eye  view  of  Russian  history  from  its  origin  to  the  pres- 
ent time I 

LECTURE   II 
(862-1224) 

Two  voices  from  antiquity.  East  and  West  in  the  destiny  of 
European  nations.  Russia's  beginning.  The  "  Norman 
theory."  Kiev  and  Byzantium.  Vladimir  and  the  baptism 
of  Russia.     R6le  of  the  monasteries. 

Ecclesiastical  literature.     Nestor  and  the  annals. 

Popular  literature  —  religious  songs,  epic  songs.  "  The  Word 
about  Igor's  Fights." 

The  "  V'eche,"  the  prince.  Jaroslav  the  Wise  and  the  "Rus- 
sian law."  Vladimir  Monomah  and  his  "Will."  Russia 
and  Europe  in  the  ante-Mongolian  period  ....      29 

LECTURE  III 
(1224-1613) 

The  Tartar  yoke.  Europe  and  Asia  —  secular  struggle.  The 
rise  and  growth  of  Moscow.  The  policy  of  the  first  Mos- 
covian  princes  and  the  'collecting  of  the  Russian  land.*^ 
Inner  currents  of  social  classes. 


^  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

John  III  —  first  sovereign  of  unified  Russia.  Diplomatic  and 
commercial  intercourse  with  Europe. 

John  IV,  the  Terrible  —  first  Tsar  of  Russia.  A  character- 
istic. '  Art  in  history  and  history  in  art.  Intellectual  cult- 
ure of  the  time.    A  parallel 6i 


LECTURE  IV 
(1613-1725) 

The  first  Romanovs.  Characteristic  of  the  period.  The  Patri- 
arch Nikon  and  the  "  revision  of  the  texts."  Awakening 
of  critical  spirit.  Foreign  infiltration  and  inner  reaction. 
The  Court.     The  precursors. 

Peter  the  Great.  His  historical  figure.  Peter's  campaigns. 
The  reform,  its  methods,  its  spirit.  Posterity  and  con- 
temporaries. Tsarevich  Alexis.  Peter's  death.  Division 
of  national  opinion.     Intestine  polemics  on  foreign  soil     . 


93 


LECTURE  V 
(1725-1796) 

The  eighteenth  century  —  significance  of  the  date.  Brief 
sketch  from  Peter  I  to  Catherine  II.  The  Academy  of 
Science.  Peter  the  Great's  depositaries.  Tatischev,  Prince 
Kantemir. 

Lomonossov  —  the  scientist,  the  poet.  Russian  pseudo- 
classicism  —  Soumarokov,  Trediakofsky,  Peter's  reform 
under  Empress  Elizabeth. 

Accession  of  Catherine  the  Great.  An  autographical  portrait. 
French  philosophy  in  Russia.  Pseudo-classicism  —  Der- 
javine.  Satire  —  the  Empress,  Von  Wiezin.  "  The  Under- 
aged."    On  the  threshold  of  the  century    .... 


129 


LECTURE  VI 

(1779-1837) 
Suddenness  and  many-sidedness  of  intellectual  growth  in  the 
New  literary  currents  traced  back  into 


nineteenth  centurv. 


CONTENTS 


rACB 


the  eighteenth  centur)- :  Novikov  and  the  Moscovian  circle. 
Europe's  literary  horizon  at  the  opening  of  the  ccntur)'. 

Sentinientalism  in  Russia.  Karamsin.  "Letters  of  a  Russian 
tourist."  "  Poor  Lizzie  "  and  the  sentimental  novel.  The 
••  History  of  the  Russian  State.*'  Romanticism  —  Joukov- 
sky.     A  new  sense  in  poetry. 

Poushkin.  His  literary  career.  His  poetry  —  character  of 
its  beauty,  acsthetical  excellence,  and  ethical  height.  His 
subject  —  life.  Russian  .society  in  the  first  decades  of  the 
century.  "  Kugcne  Oneguin," — the  novel,  character  of 
its  charm.  I'ouslikin's  lyrical  poetry  —  its  chief  features, 
many-sidedness,  harmony.  His  language.  Nationalism 
and  universality 165 

LECTURE   VII 
(1837-1861) 

An  epoch  of  youth.  Lermontov  —  romantic  pessimism,  par- 
l  allel  with  Poushkin.  Koltzoff,  — popular  element  in  poetry. 
!  Literary  and  other  aristocratism  of  the  time  (Nicholas  1). 
'  Go"'ol.  Genesis  of  the  nalur.ilistic  school.  Poushkin  and 
I  Gogol.  Signiticance  of  (iogol's  appearance.  The  writer 
\  and  his  torment.  Gogol's  laughter  in  its  different  stages. 
I  Place  of  the  satire  in  national  evolution, 
j  "The  forties."  The  Moscow  university.  Belinsky  —  his 
^  influence  as  critic.  Slavophiles  and  "  Westemists."  Sci- 
entific studies  of  national  questions.  Accession  of  Alex- 
ander II  205 

LECTURE   VIII 
(1861-1896) 

'The  sixties."  Alexander  II  and  the  emancipation  of  the 
serfs.  Ser\-itude  in  United  States  and  Russia.  Moral 
significance  of  the  reform.  The  rt>Ie  of  literature.  The 
three  cliief  representatives  of  the  naturalistic  school. 

Tourgenieff —  the  thinker  ovenveighed  by  the  artist.  Rus- 
sian critique  of  the  sixties.  Tourgenicff's  '♦  Fathers  and 
Sons."     Nihilism. 


xii  CONTENTS 


Dostoyevsky  —  the  artist  ovenveighed  by  the  thinker.  Dosto- 
yevsky's  influence  on  his  generation.  Tourgenieff  and 
Dostoyevsky.  Dostoyevsky's  teachings  from  the  universal 
and  the  national  point  of  view. 

Leo  Tolstoi  —  the  artist  and  the  thinker  in  rivalry.     Artistic 
power.     Tolstoi's  teachings.     Spirit  of  dismemberment.    ■ 
"  Tolstoists."     Influence  of  his  teaching  —  its   negative 
character.     Societies  and  individuals  ....     237 


Chronological  Index 
Genealogical  Table  . 
Index  of  Names  . 


271 
275 
277 


LECTURE    I 

(IXIRODUCTORY) 

Foreign  notions  of  Russia  ;  reasons  for  their  scarcity.  Our 
object.  The  aesthetical  element  in  historical  studies.  Art  as 
promoter  of  sociability.     Nationalism  or  cosmopolitism? 

Bird's-eye  view  of  Russian  history  from  its  origin  to  the 
present  time. 


LECTURE    I 

11  'her ever  there  are  outlets  into  celestial  space,  wherever  is  danger ^ 
and  awe,  and  love,  —  there  is  Beauty.  —  Emerson. 

WE  have  before  us  a  task  capable  of  render- 
ing us  diffident  in  many  respects.  Within 
the  short  limits  of  a  few  lectures,  1  have 
to  unroll  before  your  eyes,  and  you  —  if  only  you  agree 
to  follow  mc  —  will  have  to  run  through  the  panoramic 
picture  of  the  historical  and  literary  development  of  a 
whole  country ;  a  country  which  extends  from  the  Bal- 
tic Sea  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  sunny  vineyards  of  the 
Crimea  facing  Asia  Minor  to  the  frozen  swamps  of  the 
Behring  coast  facing  Alaska,  from  the  snow  and  ice  of 
the  Norwegian  shores  down  to  the  burning  sands  of 
Central  Asia  and  to  the  heights  of  the  Pamirs  ;  a  country 
which  in  these  limits  represents  a  surface  of  406,000 
square  miles,  i.e.  forty-two  times  as  big  as  the  surface  of 
France,  or,  to  borrow  the  astronomical  comparison  of 
Humboldt,  —  who  thought  he  could  not  find  the  equiva- 
lent on  earth,  —  a  surface  which  is  equal  to  the  surface 
of  the  full  moon ;  a  country  which  takes  the  seventh 
part  of  the  terrestrial  globe,  counts  over  120,000,000 
inhabitants,  and  over  a  thousand  years  of  history. 

In  the  few  hours  at  our  disposal  for  the  development 
of  our  programme,  there  can  be  no  question  of  presenting 
a  complete  course  of  Russian  history  and  literature.  We 
will  endeavour  to  hold  an  uninterrupted  thread  of  events, 

3 


4  PICTURES  OF   RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

but  we  cannot  possibly  devote  equal  attention  to  all  the 
epochs  we  shall  have  to  study,  and  even  in  those  epochs 
which  we  may  examine  with  more  special  attention  we 
shall  not  be  able  to  embrace  the  entire  many-sidedness 
of  historical  life ;  we  shall  have  to  abstract  from  each 
period  that  which  constitutes  its  main  characteristic,  con- 
sidering that  it  is  more  useful  and  interesting  to  know 
much  about  one  thing  than  little  about  many  things. 

Therefore,  you  will  have  to  excuse  me  if,  for  instance, 
the  lecture  on  Peter  the  Great  will  present  a  matter-of- 
fact  character,  whereas  in  the  lecture  on  Catherine  the 
Great  th-i  side  of  events  will  be  almost  absent  in  order 
to  give  place  to  the  description  of  the  intellectual  and 
literary  movements  of  the  time. 

Once  more,  a  course  of  Russian  history  and  literature 
is  unrealizable  in  eight  hours'  time  ;  the  only  thing  we 
may  venture  under  such  conditions  is  to  gwQ  pictures  of 
Russian  history  and  literature,  connected,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, by  an  uninterrupted  thread  of  facts. 

But  that  which  makes  our  task  still  harder  is  the  fact 
that  so  little  as  yet  is  known  about  Russia  abroad.  Intend- 
ing to  retrace  Russia's  historical  growth  before  a  foreign 
audience,  I  know  that  I  shall  have  to  raise  up  a  good 
portion  of  the  building  before  I  reach  a  fact  or  a  name 
which  is  universally  known  and  which  may  enable  me 
to  form  a  link  between  our  subject  and  the  average 
cycle  of  knowledge  of  a  well-educated  foreigner.  I 
know  that  through  long  historical  periods  we  shall  pro- 
ceed as  in  a  voyage  of  discovery,  and  perhaps  the  name 
of  Peter  the  Great,  who  appears  after  Russia  had  existed 
for  eight  hundred  years,  will  be  the  first  stone  I  can 
borrow  from  your  edifice  of  universal  history  for  our 
edifice  of  Russian  history. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE 


Of  course  those  events  of  Russian  history  which  arc 
closely  intenvoven  with  the  general  history  of  Europe 
are  well  known,  but  it  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that 
their  inner  connection  and  their  national  evolution  have 
been  matters  of  study  to  the  average  foreign  student. 
Just  the  same,  and  perhaps  with  more  reason,  in  litera- 
ture. The  fame  of  many  a  poet  has  crossed  our  fron- 
tier; the  names  of  Gogol,  Tourgenieff,  Dostoyevsky,  have 
flown  over  the  ocean,  and  I  do  not  know  whether  in  any 
country  more  splendour  surrounds  the  wonderful  figure 
of  Leo  Tolstoi  than  here  in  America.  And  yet  I 
think  that  the  reciprocal  relation  of  these  authors 
cannot  be  gathered  from  the  mere  reading  of  their 
works ;  their  connection  with  certain  foreign  writers, 
their  dependence  upon  the  general  literary  movement 
in  Western  Europe,  can  be  followed  up,  but  the  filiation 
of  their  own  literary  schools,  and,  above  all,  their  con- 
nection with  the  historical,  political,  and  intellectual 
development  of  their  own  country,  cannot  but  escape 
the  observation  of  the  foreign  reader. 

Thus  even  that  which  is  generally  known  of  Russian 
history  or  literature  scarcely  helps  to  form  a  sufficient 
idea  either  of  our  country  or  people  or  life.  The  sud- 
den interest  in  Russian  writers  which  has  broken  out  in 
these  last  twenty  years  is  too  recent  to  compensate  for 
so  many  years  of  indifference. 

If  we  follow  up  the  reasons  why  foreign  countries 
have  been,  and,  in  many  respects,  are  still,  ignorant  of 
our  country,  we  shall  find  that  they  are  of  three  differ- 
ent kinds.  The  first  reason  is  historical.  Only  since 
Peter  the  Great,  that  is,  for  little  over  two  hundred 
years,  has  Russia  taken  an  active  part  in  European  his- 
tory;    before  that,  commercial  relations,  exchange  of 


\ 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


extraordinary  embassies,  and  a  few  marriages  of  Russian 
princesses  with  foreign  sovereigns  in  the  very  early 
period  of  our  history,  were  the  only  occasions  when 
Europe  heard  of  Russia :  Russia  lived  for  herself  and 
did  not  trouble  about  Europe. 

The  second  reason  is  philological.     Western  Europe 
has  been  divided  among  the  two  great  families  of  the 
Aryan  group:  the  Latin  and  the  German.     Their  long 
cohabitation,    commercial    intermmgling,    and    political 
intercourse  helped  them  to  know  each  other :  any  man, 
even  if   he   knew  no   language   but  his  own,  felt  an 
inborn   relationship  with  all  nations  of   his  family, — 
consequently  was  philologically  related  to  half  Europe. 
This  of  course  furthered,  if  I  may  say  so,  his  historical 
sociability.     The  Russian  language,  though  of  the  same 
great  Aryan  group,  belongs  to  the   Slavonic   family; 
therefore  a  Russian  could  feel  no  inborn  relationship 
with    any   of    the   Western    European    nations.     The 
antique  Latin  culture  which  has  been  the  great  unify- 
ing force  which  amalgamated  the  western   nations   of 
Europe,  had  not  included  Russia  within   its   historical 
evolution.     Russia  had  no  direct  intellectual  inheritance 
from  antiquity;   she  received  a  portion  of  it  by  way 
of  Byzantium,  but  she  did  not  participate  in  the  com- 
mon growth  of  European  nations :  before  she  had  con- 
quered by  force  that  which  belonged  to  others  by  right 
of  birth,  she  had  been  regarded  as  not  belonging  to  the 
common  European  family.     That  sort  of  mistrust  which 
is  inspired  by  the  mystery  of  an   unknown   language, 
had  for  a  long  time  denied  to  Russia  the  social  equality 
which  other  European  nations  granted  to  each  other  on 
the  historical  arena. 

The  third  reason  of   foreign   ignorance  of   Russian 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE 


affairs  is  psychological.  One  of  our  writers  said :  "  If 
you  want  an  intelligent  Englishman  or  Frenchman  to 
talk  nonsense,  let  him  emit  an  opinion  on  Russia :  it 
is  a  subject  which  intoxicates  him  and  at  once  clouds 
his  intellect."  *  It  would  be  injustice  and  ingratitude 
on  our  part  to  extend  this  judgment  to  the  respectable 
works  of  men  of  science  or  travellers  and  explorers 
who  devoted  many  years  of  their  lives  to  the  study  of 
the  history,  literature,  and  institutions  of  our  country, 
such  as  Ralston,  Mackenzie  Wallace,  Leroy-Bcaulieu, 
Rambaud  and  others,  whom  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
quote ;  but  applied  to  the  average  traveller  or  novel- 
writer,  exaggerated  as  it  may  seem,  the  judgment  con- 
tains a  good  deal  of  truth. 

People  usually  form  a  certain  amount  of  a  prion 
ideas  of  a  country,  and  when  they  get  there,  rather 
than  open  their  brains  for  new  impressions  and  new 
influences,  they  are  interested  in  taking  notice  of  the 
slightest  facts  that  can  be  registered  as  a  confirmation 
of  their  ideas :  they  want,  at  any  cost  they  want,  reality 
to  match  their  opinions.  Instead  of  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery, it  becomes  a  voyage  of  "  constatations."  I 
remember  an  American  girl  who  frankly  confessed  that 
she  did  not  like  Russian  novels  representing  Russian 
life ;  she  thought  things  they  pictured  were  not  original 
enough,  lacking  "  local  colour " ;  she  much  preferred 
English  novels  about  Russia,  they  were  so  much  more 
"  Russian."  This  is  characteristic.  The  '*  Russian  novel " 
as  known  in  English  ard  French  literature  acquires  a 
sort  of  exotic  charm :  snow  and  wolves  and  police 
agents,  with  the  threatening  prospect  of  Siberia  in 
the   background,  give  to  the   pictures  of   our  human 

>  Trince  Viaiemsky,  **  Lettres  d'on  Veteran  nuM." 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


passions  that  same  varnish  which  other  authors  try  to 
give   them   by  transporting  their  stories  into   Central 
Africa  or  to  New  Zealand.     By  a  strange  tendency  of 
their  pen,  or  perhaps  because  they  supplied  the  demand 
of  the  greater  portion  of  their  readers,  these  authors  in 
the  things  they  described  —  whether  right  or  wrong  — 
seemed  to  turn  their  attention  exclusively  in  one  direc- 
tion ;  thus  the  name  of  our  country  came  to  possess  the 
sad  property  of  evoking  horrible  pictures  of  violence 
and  slavery.     We  will  not  discuss  —  we  are  not  here  for 
polemics ;  we  will  still  less  pay  attention  to  the  sensa- 
tional news  spread  by  the  daily  press  of  those  countries 
which  are  politically  interested  in  exciting  appetites  to 
which  our  philosopher  gives  the  picturesque  appellation 
of  "  international  cannibalism."  ^ 

For  my  part  I  hope,  I  am  sure,  that  I  stand  before  an 
audience  which  has  not  lost  that  divine  gift,  which  is  the 
faculty  of  admiration,  which  trusts  the  good  elements  of 
human  nature,  which  believes  in  their  triumphant  march 
from  the  darkest  ages  to  the  light  of  the  present  day,  and 
which  knows  that  the  history  of  a  people,  being  the  record 
of  a  laborious  process  whereby  a  portion  of  the  great  hu- 
man family  obtained  its  national  self-consciousness,  is  an 
honourable  book,  that  it  contains  brilliant  pages,  glorious 
names,  examples  of  virtue,  and  lessons  which  command 
respect.     There  is  an  uplifting  spirit  which  emanates 
from  all  that  is  noble,  great,  and  beautiful  —  wherever 
and  whenever  it  happens ;  and  it  is  not  a  shallow  feeling 
of   narrow    patriotism  which  actuates  me  when   I  say 
that  this  is  the  spirit  which  must  guide  us  on  our  way 
through  our  subject ;  it  is  not  in  order  to  obtain  a  satis- 

>  VI.  Solovioff,  "Morality  and  Politics,"  in  The  National  Question  in 
/Russia,  St.  Petersburg,  1891  (Russian). 


■i 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE 


faction  of  national  pride,  not  because  I  wish  to  declaim 
at  your  expense  patriotic  rhapsodies  which  I  know  can 
touch  no  chords  in  a  foreign  heart,  but  because  that  up- 
lifting spirit  is  the  only  element  which  gives  to  accounts 
of  national  history  an  educational  value  from  the  uni- 
versal point  of  view.     The  pleasure  we  find  in  initiating 
people  into  the  history  of  our  fatherland  does  not  come 
from  the  fact  that  we  intensify  our  nationalism,  or  that 
we  give  an   absolute  value  to  things  which  have  but 
a  limited  importance ;   the  satisfaction  comes  from  the 
fact  that  from  those  events  which  have  a  temporary  or 
local  significance  wc  abstract  the  eternal  elements  of 
moral  or  artistic  beauty,  and  abandoning  the  soil  of  our 
private  interests  we  bring  them  over  into  the  great  arena 
of  science  and  art,  where  everything  belongs  to  everybody. 
"Beauty,"    says   one   of  our   writers,    "is   the   only 
spiritual  quality  of  matter ;  consequently  beauty  is  the 
only  link  between  these  two  fundamental  elements  of 
the  universe."  *      But  if  so,  what  a  powerful  instigator 
for  the  acknowledgment  of  the  universal  relationship  of 
things  and  men,  and  of  men  between  themselves,  is  the 
faculty  of  responsiveness  to  beauty  we  all  bear  in  our 
hearts.     And  what  an  important  part  in  that  furthering 
of  national  sociability,  which  is  based  on  responsiveness 
to  beauty,  belongs  to  art  in  general,  —  art  being  the 
embodiment  of  beauty,  —  and  to  literature  more  particu- 
larly, as  to  the  most  many-sided  of  all  arts,  and  the  least 
dependent  on  place  or  means  of  execution.     Art  is  — 
and  it  will  always  be  so  more  and  more — one  of  the 
greatest  powers  which  work  at  the  destruction  of  those 
barriers  which  have  been  erected  against  human  inter- 
course by  national  distinctions. 

1  Duulenkj. 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


We  will  not  examine  here  whether  nationahsm  is  an 
element  of  good  or  of  evil,  whether  patriotism  is  a  form 
of  pride,  and  therefore  to  be  condemned,  or  a  kind  o 
devotion,  and  therefore  to  be  exalted  as  a  virtue :   let 
politics  take  care  of  geographical  frontiers,  and  il  umi- 
nate  the  map  of   the   world  with  the   glanng   colours 
of    national   divisions.  -  art    and   science   will   pursue 
their  task;    they  will   not   allow   human  hearts  to  be 
imprisoned  in  those  frontiers.     And  how  could  it  be 
otherwise  ?     Nationalities  are  limited  by  time  and  space ; 
art  and  science  stand  above  both.     We  generally  seem 
unconscious  of  this  fact;   we  always  seem  mclmed  to 
confine  the  work  of  an  artist  to  his  time,  to  his  country ; 
it  is  quite  right  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  creation, 
but  quite  wrong  from  the  points  of  view  of  the  enjoy- 
ment.     For  instance,  suppose  we  take  Shakespeare: 
of  course,  first  of  all,  his  works  are  English  and  of  the 
Elizabethan  period;  but  this,  as  I  said,  only  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  creation ;  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  enjoyment,  they  are  mine  as  well  as  yours  or  as  any- 
body's at  any  time,  and  it  only  depends  upon  myself  to 
make  them  still  more  mine  than  anybody  else's.     This 
the  great  power  of  art  which  comes  from  its  eternal  and 
universal  character  vfe  seem  to  overlook.     We  so  often 
repeat :  "  Shakespeare  belongs  to  England  and  to  the 
Elizabethan  period,"  and  we  do  not  seem  to  realize  the 
inexactness  of  the  expression.     No.  Shakespeare  does 
■     not  belong  to  the   Elizabethan   period;  he  lived  and 
worked  in  the  Elizabethan  period,  he  does  not  belong 
to  England ;  he  was  bom  in  England,  but  he  belongs 
to  the  whole  world,  to  any  man,  in  any  country,  at  any 
time  from  the  Elizabethan  period  down  to  the  eternity 
of  eternities. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  ii 


Great  can  be  the  power  of  art  if  we  only  consent  to 
open  our  hearts  to  its  beneficent  influence ;  and  let  us 
not  allow  political  antipathies,  national  susceptibilities, 
religious  controversies,  prejudices  against  an  epoch 
or  a  country  or  an  individual,  to  steal  in  between  our 
soul  and  a  work  of  art;  all  these  are  venomous  feel- 
ings, but  their  sting  is  turned  against  ourselves.  It  has 
no  power  of  wounding  the  work  of  art ;  for  art  is  invul- 
nerable and  flourishes  on  in  its  serene  tranquillity  above 
the  reptiles  of  human  narrow-mindedness.  No,  let  us 
approach  a  work  of  art  with  that  same  oblivion  of 
human  divisions  with  which  we  fly  to  the  salvation  of 
a  man  who  runs  a  mortal  peril ;  as  with  a  burning- 
glass,  let  us  gather  and  concentrate  the  irradiating 
beams  of  beauty  so  as  to  light  in  our  hearts  the  sacred 
glow  of  responsiveness  and  sympathy.  Let  us  cultivate 
and  preserve  in  our  souls  the  divine  gift  of  admiration, 
let  it  not  be  intimidated,  let  it  not  be  trampled  upon ;  for 
every  new  chord  which  vibrates  in  ourselves  becomes  a 
new  point  of  contact  with  others,  whereas  a  man  who 
loves  nothing  loves  no  one. 

Two  divergent  tendencies  in  our  days  dispute  with 
each  other  the  supremacy  over  the  direction  of  human 
thought,  —  nationalism  and  cosmopolitism. 

In  these  latter  days  the  two  opinions  have  been 
strained  to  the  last  limits  of  reason  and  logic,  but  do 
you  not  think  that  the  tempest  of  controversies  ought  to 
appease  itself  before  questions  of  science  and  art? 
When  people  try  to  determine  whether  science  and  art 
are  national  or  cosmopolitan,  it  seems  to  me  as  hollow 
and  useless  an  attempt  as  if  they  were  to  try  to  decide 
whether  the  river  belongs  to  the  mountain  or  to  the 
ocean.     No  work  of  art  is  good  unless  it  has  been  indi- 


12 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


vidual  and  national,  but  what  is  the  test  of  its  being 
good  ?  It  is  the  fact  that  it  has  become  universal  and  cos- 
mopolitan. That  faculty  of  widening,  of  expanding,  — 
that  is  what  gives  value  to  intellectual  things ;  products 
of  human  genius  rise  above  the  soil  of  their  birth,  and 
by  following  them  we  rise  ourselves;  their  national 
spirit  becomes  a  force  which  leads  us  on  the  way 
towards  universality;  therefore  it  is  not  a  treason 
against  humanity  if  we  love  our  fatheriand,  just  as  there 
is  no  treason  against  our  fatherland  if  we  love  human- 
ity. As  the  oak  is  virtually  contained  in  the  acorn,  so 
the  universal  importance  of  a  noble  feeling  is  contained 
in  its  national  significance. 

These  are  the  ideas  I  wished  to  establish  before  we 
pass  on  to  our  subject;  I  should  feel  glad  to  have 
them  shared  by  my  audience,  for  the  best  condition 
of  success  in  community  of  work  is  community  of 
sentiment 

In  a  few  rapid  strokes  let  us  plant  the  sign-posts  of 

our  narration. 

In  the  misty  twilight  of  those  times  when  history  and 
legend  just  begin  to  differentiate,  the  name  of  Rurik 
appears  as  the  starting-point  of  Russian  history.      A 
Norman   prince,  invited   by  the   Slavonic  tribes,  who 
lived  in  the  great  plain  between  the  Black  Sea  and  the 
Baltic,  he  leaves  his  native  Norway,  brings  over  with 
him  his  family,  his  fighting  men,  and  the  name  of  his 
Norman  tribe,  Russ.     This  was  in  862.     He  settles  in 
Novgorod,  which  becomes  the  chief  town  of  that  earli- 
est period,  and  he  starts  the  dynasty  which  reigned  till 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.     His  successors  trans- 
fer their  residence  down  to  Kiev  on  the  high  and  pictu- 
resque bank  of  the  Dnieper.     The  chief  event  of  that 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  ij 

period  is  the  introduction  of  Christianity  by  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Kiev,  Vladimir,  in  987.  Numerous  monaster- 
ies display  a  vigorous  activity  of  learning,  teaching, 
translating,  and  become  the  centre  of  intellectual  life. 
But  the  land  is  troubled  by  constant  quarrels  of  the 
princes  fighting  for  the  possession  of  the  grand-ducal 
throne  of  Kiev  and  by  the  incursions  of  Asiatic 
nomadic  tribes,  as  the  Petchenegs,  Polovtsy,  and  finally 
the  Tartars  who  invade  the  country  and  subjugate  it  in 
the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Out  of  the  dis- 
order of  that  period  of  formation,  on  the  sombre  back- 
ground of  intestine  dissensions,  two  great  figures  shine 
with  serenity  in  national  memory,  —  Yaroslav  the  Wise, 
who  collected  in  one  book  all  the  oral  rules  and  customs 
of  juridical  proceedings,  and  in  the  "Russian  Law" 
gave  the  first  written  document  of  Russian  legislation ; 
Vladimir  Monomah  —  the  terror  of  the  rebellious  princes 
and  the  favourite  of  the  people.  We  shall  learn  to  ap- 
preciate his  gentle  character  and  high  spiritual  qualities 
when  we  examine  that  famous  document  known  as  the 
"  Will  of  Vladimir  Monomah,"  one  of  the  most  touching 
specimens  of  Middle-Age  literature. 
S^hQ  Tartar  yoke  plunges  the  whole  country  into  deep 
night ;  all  attempts  at  independent  political  life  are  sup- 
pressed, those  fresh  germs  of  inner  national  gfrowth 
which  gave  such  vigorous  offshoots  in  the  cloister  move- 
ment and  in  the  political  wisdom  of  the  above-mentioned 
princes,  are  destroyed,  and  all  possibility  of  progress  is 
cut  off  for  two  hundred  years.  But  national  feeling  was 
too  deeply  rooted  in  the  hearts  of  the  people ;  while  old 
Kiev,  with  her  acropolis  of  monasteries  and  churches, 
gradually  loses  all  political  importance,  a  new  acropolis  is 
rising,  —  the  "  white-walled,"  the  "  golden-headed  "  Mos- 


14  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN    HISTORY 

Under  the  reign  of  a  series  of  wise  and  prudent 


princes  she  grows  slowly  but  surely,  and  all  the  other 
princes  finally  have  to  acknowledge  her  supremacy  as 
the  only  means  of  salvation;  Moscow  becomes  the  cen- 
tral point  of   national   self-consciousness,  and  in   the 
chronicles  she  is  mentioned  with  the  epithets      he^ 
of  Russia  "  or  "  collector  of  the  Russian  land.      In  1 380 
the  first  regular  battle  is  fought  with  the  Tartar  and 
•gained  by  the  Grand  Duke  Dimitry  on  the  banks  of  the 
Don     The  emancipation  has  begun:  a  hundred  years 
later    under  the  Grand  Duke  John  III,  the  enemy  is 
finally  expelled.     The  hard  work  of  formation  is  ful- 
filled, the  incubation  period  is  finished,  the  prmcedom 
of  Moscow  stands  firmly  relying  upon  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  national  self -consciousness,  and  in  1547  John 
I     IV.  called  the  Terrible,  crowns  himself  the  first  Tsar  of 
Moscow.     We  will  stop  in  our  studies  at  this  wonderful 
figure,  whose  name  has  been  synonymous  with  terror; 
that  sanguinary  autocrat,  who  dressed  like  a  monk,  who 
knew  by  heart  the  Scriptures,  and  whose  victims  are 
numbered  by  thousands ;  that  unfortunate  infanticide 
who  lived  in  a  mixture  of  blood  and  church  incense ; 
that  combination  of  Louis  XI  and  Henry  VIII.  whom 
death  prevented  from  repudiating  his  seventh  wife  at  the 
very  moment  he  was  negotiating  with  Queen  Elizabeth 
of  England  to  obtain  the  hand  of  her  niece— the  prin- 
cess of  Hastings.     W^  will  come  back  to  this  wonder- 
ful figure   whose   memory  has    been    perpetuated    in 
folk-lore,  painting,  sculpture,  novels,  and  tragedies. 

The  horrors  of  that  reign  are  but  like  an  introduction 
to  a  series  of  calamities  which  overflow  the  country. 
John's  son  is  a  gentle,  sweet,  but  feeble-minded  sover- 
eign, and  with  his  death  in  1598  the  old  dynasty  of 


AND   RUSSIAN   UTERATURE  19 

merely  pictorial  and  quite  superficial  character,  I  should 
like  to  give   you.      Do  you  think  picturesque  details 
of  dressing,  and  what  French   people   call  "  mise  en 
scene "  deserve  to  be  looked  down  upon  ?     I  do  not 
think  they  do.     I  think  they  help  us  to  put  an  event 
in  its  place ;  sometimes  they  help  us  to  recall  a  fact 
we  had  forgotten ;  they  are  like  nails  which  fasten  a 
picture  to  our  memory  ;   and  they  have  still  another 
importance  :  one  detail  of  that  kind  has  the  property  of 
evoking  a  whole  epoch,  —  a  picture  can  be  filled  by  one 
stroke.     Who  does  not  know  the  evoking  power  of  the 
"toga,"  of  the  "spur,"  of  the  "jabot,"  of  the  powdered 
wig  ?     Each  of  these  words,  like  a  condensed  volume, 
melts  in  our  memory  and  fills  it  up  with  things  which 
are  not  said,  but  divined  ;  this  sparing  of  work  produced 
by  the  force  of  association  is  one  of  the  most  precious 
faculties  of   a    well-educated   brain   desirous  to  leam. 
So  let  us  not  despise  those  superficial  things,  but  let  us 
take  some  illustrated  volume  representing  portraits  of 
Russian  sovereigns.     When  you  get  to  the  eighteenth 
century  you  might  think  it  is  another  volume  illustrat- 
ing another  world,  and  still  it  is  only  another  part  of 
the  same  volume,  —  it  is  divided  by  a  page,  one  single 
page,  but  at  the  bottom  of  the  portrait  which   adorns 
that  page,  in  a  disorderly  and  hasty  handwriting,  we  read 
the  Latin  signature  "  Petrus."      He  is  generally  repre- 
sented in  the  attire  of  a  knight  in*  the  armour  in  which 
all  European  sovereigns  of  that  time,  though  they  never 
wore  it,  liked  to  be  portrayed:  they  knew  they  were 
the  last  ones  who  could  appear  in  the  eyes  of  posterity 
in  such  attire  without  incurring  the  accusation  of  mas- 
querading.    Perhaps  you  would  have  preferred  another 
picture,  —  you  would  rather  have  had  him  in  his  everyday 


20 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 


dress,  — his  wide   knickerbocker  trousers   and   brown 
frock-coat,  that  famous  costume  that  had  been  displayed 
to  the  eyes  of  all  Europe,  at  all  the  courts,  in  the  Dutch 
and  English  dock-yards,  and  which  has  been  so  well  de- 
scribed by  Saint-Simon  in  his  Memoirs  where  he  relates 
Peter's  visit  to  Paris,  and  the  first  meeting  with  the  infant 
Louis  XV ;  how  contrary  to  all  etiquette  he  took  the 
child  in  his  arms,  lifted  him  up  and  kissed  the  King  of 
France.^     Of  course  that  portrait  would  be  more  typi- 
cal, though  it  is  not  his  official  one.     Now  take  the  last 
page    before    Peter,  —  it  will   probably  be   either   his 
brother  John,  or  his  sister,  the  famous  Princess  Sophia 
who  was  too  clever  for  a  Tsar's  sister,  too  dangerous  for 
Peter's  plans,  and  therefore  had  to  be  removed  to  a  con- 
vent.    Look  at  these  portraits  :  how  far  from  our  times 
these  young  though  dignified  figures  under  their  royal 
attires  !     Look  at  Peter's  father  Alexis,  at  his  grand- 
father Michael,  —  they  are  the  last   ones  of  that  long 
portrait  gallery  ;  look  at  their  Byzantine  gravity,  the  ec- 
clesiastic sumptuousness  of  their  gold-embroidered  man- 
tles, how  venerable  their  long-bearded  heads,  under  the 
golden  crown,  the  famous  "  cap  of  Monomah,"  trimmed 
with   fur   and   surmounted   with  a  cross ;    and  Peter's 
mother,  that  respectable  lady  in  a  long  fur  mantle,  with 
a  fur  bonnet,  and  a  white  silk  kerchief  draped  round 
her  head  so  as  to  leave  open  the  nice  intelligent  face. 

And  now  let  us  turn  again  to  Peter,  and  then  one 
page  more.  If  in  turning  over  an  illustrated  volume 
of  French  history,  you  should  jump  from  Charlemagne 
straight  over  to  the  powdered  marquises  of  Louis 
XV,  the  transition  would  not  be  more  surprising. 
Who  is  that  stout  lady  in  a  French  lo\y  dress,  black 

^  "  Memoires  da  Due  de  Saint-Simon."    Paris,  1872,  t.  DL 


^ 


AND  RUSSIAN  LITERATURE  si 


curls  twisting  on  her  naked  shoulders,  a  little  diamond 
crown  in  her  ebony  hair,  a  fat  full-moon  face,  with  a 
double  chin,  and  a  pleasant  smile  on  her  sensual  lips  ? 
I  This  is  Peter's  wife,  the  Empress  Catherine.     (What  a 

I  difference  from  his  mother !)     And  the  next  one,  that 

I  youth  with  a  powdered  wig,  an  uninteresting  face  ?     It 

I  is  Peter  II,  Peter  the  Great's  grandson. 

I  We  cannot  take  them  up  one  by  one,  —  all  those  cm- 

1  perors  and  empresses  who  so  rapidly  succeed  each  other 

I  after  Peter's  death  in  1725.     With  the  exception  of  his 

I  daughter,  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  his  immediate  succes- 

sors are  too  insignificant,  and  they  are  all  put  in  the 
shade  by  the  figure  of  Catherine  the  Great. 
i  On  the  28th  of  June,  1762,  in  consequence  of  a  palace 

I  revolution,    Catherine,   a    former    princess  of    Anhalt- 

'  Zerbst,  now  the  wife  of  the  Emperor  Peter  III,  is  pro- 

claimed Empress ;  Peter  is  confined  to  a  suburban 
palace,  but  with  that  care  of  opportuneness  which  his- 
tory so  often  showed  in  good  old  times,  he  dies  on  the 
6th  of  July.  The  brilliant  and  showy  reign  of  the 
"  Northern  Semiramis "  begins.  Surrounded  by  a 
pleiad  of  eminent  men  in  politics,  diplomacy,  literature, 
1  she  leads  her  country  in  the  direction  pointed  out  by 

^  the  great  reformer,  and  effects  its  final  incorporation  in 

the  family  of  the  European  powers.  The  pomp  and 
splendours  of  that  reign  furnish  the  subject  of  the  first 
inspired  pages  of  our  literature.  Draped  in  a  Roman 
mantle,  the  pseudo-classical  poetry  loudly  blows  the 
trumpet  of  praise,  an^  to  French  tunes  sings  the  virtues 
of  the  Great  Empress  in  sonorous  Russian  verses.  The 
young  and  vigorous  language,  which  had  only  just  begun 
to  detach  itself  from  the  antiquated  Slavonian  forms,  with 
a  marvellous  rapidity  evolves  towards  its  final  emancipa- 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

tion     "" 

Em 

over 


non:  Derjavine.  the  venerable  poet  who  survives  the 
Empress  whom  he  had  celebrated  in  his  odes  passes 
ov"r  the  threshold  of  the  century,  and  before  descend- 
in^r  into  the  grave  is  given  the  chance  of  greeting  that 
yo^'uth  who  is  going  to  raise  the  Russian  language  to 
its  pinnacle.  Poushkin  greeted  by  Deiiavine  -  the 
genesis  and  the  whole  evolution  of  Russian  literature 
is  held  in  these  words. 

The  last  three  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  are 
taken  up  by  the  reign  of  Catherine's  son  Paul.     This 
short  reign   has   one   legendary .  page,   and  though   it 
should  rather  be  put  among  appendices  than  in  the  very 
text  of  Russian  history,  it  is  nevertheless  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  pages  of  Russia's  military  glory.     In  1 799. 
the  field-marshal,  Count  Souvorov,  one  of  the  glomes  of 
the  precedent  reign,  takes  the  command  of  an  army 
which  marches  to  the  liberation  of  the  Austnan  posses- 
sions in  Italy  from  the  French  dominion.     Two  weeks 
after  his  arrival  he  makes  his  triumphant  entrance  into 
Milan,  then  Turin  is  taken  — in  six  weeks  all  Northern 
Italy  is  cleared ;  the  two  French  generals,  Moreau  and 
Macdonald,  are  defeated  one  after  the  other;  Mantua  is 
taken.  General  Jaubert  is  killed  at  Novi,  and  forty-five 
hundred  French  soldiers  made  prisoners.     Italy  is  lib- 
erated, but  the   French  troops   menace  Austria   from 
Switzerland ;  with  the  greatest  difficulties,  at  the  cost  of  a 
loss  of  two  thousand  men,  Souvorov  passes  the  St.  Goth- 
ard.     Every  step  has  to  be  conquered.     At  the  famous 
Devil's  Bridge  the  struggle  becor^es  desperate,  but  it  is 
taken  and  passed  over ;  on  the  other  side  the  exhausted 
army  of  less  than  twenty  thousand   stands  before  an 
enemy  of  sixty  thousand;  but  Massena  had  the  same 
fate  as  the  others,  and  the  Russian  army  at  last  rejoins 


lA 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  23 


1 


the  Austrians  —  barefooted  but  crowned  with  laurels. 
Few  travellers  crossing  the  St.  Gothard  in  a  comfort- 
able sleeping-car,  and  looking  at  the  arch  of  a  half- 
ruined  bridge  overhanging  the  blue  abyss  of  a  misty 
precipice,  realize  that  they  contemplate  a  monument  of 
Russian  military  glory.  Three  future  marshals  of  Na- 
poleon defeated,  and  under  what  conditions!  And 
Napoleon  himself  .>  Unfortunately  Bonaparte  was  in 
Egypt  just  at  that  time.  The  old  field-marshal,  who  had 
been  keeping  a  close  eye  on  the  young  general's 
exploits,  used  to  say :  "  The  fellow  strides  a  pretty  good 
pace,"  but  history  denied  posterity  one  of  the  most 
interesting  episodes,  by  not  providing  for  a  meeting 
between  Souvorov  and  Bonaparte.  As  I  said,  that 
campaign  having  no  link  with  national  interests  is  to  be 
classified  among  appendices  of  Russian  history ;  if  we 
have  stopped  at  it  a  little  longer  than  the  rapidity  of  our 
narrative  will  allow,  it  is  because  such  kinds  of  mingling 
in  other  nations,  —  affairs  without  any  practical  benefit, 

—  have  been  one  of  the  features  of  Russian  diplomacy 
of  this  century ;  they  have  been  put  an  end  to  by  the 
national  policy  of  the  late  Emperor  Alexander  III. 

We  enter  into  the  nineteenth  century  with  the  reign 
of  Paul's  eldest  son,  Alexander  I ;  his  strange  inexpli- 
cable figure,  whose  individual  qualities  exercised  such  an 
irresistible  fascination  on  his  contemporaries  and  leave 
posterity  so  indifferent,  is  connected  with  the  memora- 
ble year  18 12,  —  the  year  of  the  "  fatherland's  war,"  as 
in  our  history  they  call  that  campaign  against  Napoleon, 

—  the  memorable  year  when  the  conqueror  of  the  world 
was  defeated  and  turned  to  flight  "  by  the  rigour  of  the 
climate,"  as  is  usually  said  by  those  who  are  interested  in 
diminishing  the  importance  of  Russia's  participation  in 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


that  decisive  moment  of   European  history;   and  they 
org^^^^^^^^^  Napoleon  crossed  our  frontier  m  June,  that 
he  famous  battle  at  Borodino  was  in  September  that 
onsequently  he  had  plenty  of  time  before  the  wmter 
set  in  to  be  as  successful  in  Russia  as  he  had  been  m 
other  countries,  and  that  his  flight  and  the  retreat  of  his 
army  were  effected  only  in  late  autumn  and  the  begin- 
ning of  winter.     The  date  of  1812  will  always  shme  m 
national  memory:  it  is  to  every  Russian  synonymous 
with  self-oblivion  in  the  consciousness  of  national  unity ; 
the  outburst  of  patriotic  feeling  of  that  epoch  has  never 
been  surpassed  but  once -two  hundred  years  before, 
in  those  "times  of  confusion"  we  spoke  of  a  while  ago. 
The  handsome  figure  of  Alexander  I  becomes  insepa- 
rable  from  the   pictures  of   those   great  events  which 
evolved  in  Europe  from  1805  to  181 5.     An  air  of  con- 
tinuous feast,  of  parade,  seems  to  escort  him  through 
that  epoch  of  European  coalitions  and  congresses ;  but 
it  does  not  alter  the  spirit  of  beautiful   serenity  and 
majestic  carelessness  which  emanates  from  his  person; 
in   Europe's    collective    action    against    Napoleon    he 
becomes  the  centre,  the  arbiter;  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
nations  delivered  from  the  Caesar's  yoke  surrounds  him 
with  a  mystic  and  romantic  aureole ;  it  becomes  a  delir- 
ium when  he  enters  Paris  at  the  head  of   the    allied 
armies  with  the  Emperor  of  Austria  and  the  King  of 
Prussia  on  either  side ;  it  rises  to  its  culminating  point 
when,  after  the  congresses  of  Vienna,  Laybach,  Verona, 
and  after  his  visit  to  London,  he  undertakes  his  journey 
homewards,  and  when  on  the  whole  stretch  through  those 
foreign  countries,  pacified  and  reintegrated  on  their  fron- 
tiers, it  is  like  an  uninterrupted  pathway  of  triumphal 
arches  with  the  dedication  "  Alexandro  Benedicto." 


(A 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  m$ 


At  home  it  is  the  time  when  Karamsin  erects  that 
fine  monument  of  Russian  prose  —  his  "  History  of  the 
Russian    State,"   when    Joukovsky   breaks    the    tradi- 
tions  of    pseudo-classicism   and    tunes    the   chords  of 
his   lyre   according  to  his   romantic  aspirations,  when 
Poushkin  descends  into  the  depths  of  the  national  soul 
and   brings   to   light   the   first  jewels  of   independent 
Russian  poetry.      The  great   intellectual  fermentation 
begins  and  goes  on  so  rapidly  that  the  sunrise  and  the 
brightest  daylight  of  Russian  literature  are  contained  in 
less   than  forty   years.     The  voices   in   favour  of  the 
emancipation  of  the  serfs  resound  louder  and  louder; 
unfortunately  on  the  accession  of  Alexander's  brother, 
Nicholas  I,  in  1825,  they  break  out  in  the  violences  of 
a  revolutionary  movement  which  has  to  be  suppressed 
by  force.     But  the  awaking  of  spirits  unchains  the  dif- 
ferent currents  of  opinions ;  German  philosophy  takes 
the  place  of  the  French  ideas  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
Hegelianism  crosses  the  frontier,  and  with  its  "nimbus 
of  infallibility,"  inflames  the  hearts  of   all  that  young 
generation  which  grew  up  in  the  idealistic  exaltation  of 
romanticism.      Literary    societies   arise,  and    in    their 
numerous  periodicals  fill  the  air  with  violent  discussions. 
Two   great   tendencies   here   for   the   first   time  ac- 
centuate their  bifurcation  with  sharply  distinct  colours ; 
the  "  Slavophiles,"  the  champions  of  the  national  idea, 
national  civilization,  revilers  of  Europe,  and  the  "  West- 
ernists,"  champions  of  one  common  European  civiliza- 
tion, preachers  of   universalism.     The  two  tendencies 
ever  since  diverge  in  their  solutions  of  every  important 
question  of  national  life:    Russia's  destiny,  the  value 
of  Peter  the  Great's  reform,  all  events  of  our  history 
up  to  the    Norman  origin  of    Rurik  become  as  many 


26  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


wedges   which    split    the    current   of    Russian    critical 
thought 

In  the  stormy  intercrossing  of  opinions  the  new 
literary  tendencies  make  their  way :  Gogol  throws  aside 
the  veil  of  literary  conventionality  and  by  uncovering 
human  nature  in  its  sad  nakedness,  starts  the  Russian 
naturalistic  school ;  Lermentov  gives  way  to  the  bitter- 
ness of  his  romantic  desperation  and  by  adding  it  to  the 
healthy  and  somewhat  epicurean  lyrics  of  Poushkin 
completes  the  chords  of  Russian  lyrical  poetry ;  Kolt- 
zoff  goes  to  the  root  of  the  peasant's  language  and  with 
his  poems  gives  a  beginning  to  the  literature  in  Russian 
popular  style. 

The  alarm  caused  in  official  circles  by  the  revolution- 
ary outburst  in  Western  Europe  about  1848,  and  the 
trials  of  the  Crimean  War,  arrest  for  a  while  the  free 
development  of  the  literary  movement,  but  the  names 
of  Tourgenieff  and  Tolstoi  have  already  dawned.  The 
Emperor  Alexander  II  ascends  in  1855,  and  on  the  19th 
of  February,  1862,  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs  is  pro- 
claimed. The  brilliant  pleiad  of  poets  and  writers 
which  group  themselves  round  that  date  have  all  grown 
in  the  vivifying  atmosphere  which  breathed  around  the 
throne,  while  the  famous  commission  presided  over  by 
Count  Rostovtsev  was  holding  its  sittings  to  help  the 
monarch  in  his  plans. 

One  single  act  in  the  history  of  the  nineteenth 
century  can  be  confronted  with  that  act  of  Emperor 
Alexander  II.  Another  country,  too,  delivered  millions 
of  human  beings  from  slavery,  but  that  which  in  a 
republic  was  obtained  at  the  cost  of  a  civil  war  and 
four  years  of  bloodshed,  was  accomplished  m  Russia  by 
a  few  enlightened  men  working  in  the  du-ection  which 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  a; 

had  been  pointed  out  for  them  by  their  enlightened 
monarch.  And  it  was  not  a  mere  whim  of  destiny  but 
the  sovereign  will  of  Providence  that  the  name  of  Alex- 
ander II  should  be  indissolubly  connected  with  the 
memory  of  the  American  civil  war:  the  spirit  which 
favours  the  accomplishment  of  those  great  acts  by  which 
humanity  advances  towards  the  fulfilment  of  her  des- 
tiny is  the  same  everywhere,  in  every  individual,  in 
every  country,  in  every  nation;  and  no  geographical 
limits  are  wide  enough,  no  national  divisions  profound 
enough,  no  political  barriers  high  enough  to  dismember 
the  unity  of  the  human  soul  or  to  prevent  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  this  unity  from  taking  root  in  our  con- 
science. You  know  Alexander  II's  tragic  end  in  1881 ; 
from  that  date  begins  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander III,  whose  loss  we  all  deplored  eighteen  months 
ago. 

Thus  from  history  we  enter  into  actuality.  At  our 
next  meeting  we  will  return  into  the  twilight  of  Russia's 
early  day  and  folk-lore. 


% 


w 


LECTURE   II 

(86»-i224) 

Two  voices  from  antiquity.  East  and  West  in  the  destiny 
of  European  nations.  Russia's  beginning.  The  "Norman 
theory."  Kiev  and  Byzantium.  Vladimir  and  the  baptism  of 
Russia.     Role  of  the  monasteries. 

Ecclesiastical  literature.     Nestor  and  the  annals. 

Popular  literature  —  religious  songs,  epic  songs.  "  The 
Word  about  Igor's  Fights." 

The  "  Veche,"  the  prince.  Jaroslav  the  Wise  and  the  "  Rus- 
sian Law."  Vladimir  Monomah  and  his  "  WilL"  Russia  and 
Europe  in  the  ante-Mongolian  period. 


LECTURE    II 

Narration  of  times  of  yore,  about  how  Russia  came  to  life^  aiawt 
who  was  the  first  to  rule  in  Kieiu  and  how  tht  Russian  country  if 
gantobe.  —  Title  of  Nestor's  Chronicle  (eleventh  century). 

THE  sovereigns  of  the  Middle  Ages  liked  to  have 
their  genealogy  traced  back  into  antiquity,  and 
their  names  put  in  direct  filiation  with  those  of 
Augustus  and  Caesar.  Modem  historiographers  like  to 
descend  from  Herodotus,  and  endeavour  by  all  means  to 
hunt  up  their  information  as  far  back  in  antiquity  as 
the  first  pages  by  the  venerable  *'  Father  of  History." 
(Are  you  quite  sure  we  shall  not  find  his  name  in  the  first 
chapter  of  some  historical  work  on  the  Argentine  Re- 
public ?)  Russian  historical  writers,  when  they  ascend 
to  that  source,  get  no  ethnographical  information  suit- 
ing their  purposes,  but  they  have  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing,  if  not  their  ancestors,  at  least  their  territory,  men- 
tioned by  Herodotus. 

When  the  venerable  writer  crossed  the  Hellespont  to 
visit  the  Greek  colonies  which  flourished  in  what  is  now 
the  Crimea  and  the  northern  coast  of  the  Sea  of  Azov, 
he  saw  prosperous  towns,  beautiful  temples,  porticos 
with  slender  columns,  people  walking  up  the  marble 
staircases  to  worship  the  gods  of  their  fatherland ;  and 
beyond  these  towns  he  saw  a  country  of  endless  plains 
and  wide  rivers ;  and  on  these  plains  nomadic  hordes  of 
Scythians  were  wandering  and  pasturing  their  cattle 

3« 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN    HISTORY 


Of  all  that  scene  the  endless  plains  and  the  wide  nvers 
alone  remain.     The  scarce  but  precious  relics  of  the 
Greek  colonies-the  beautiful  jewels  from  the  excava- 
Ls  of  Kertch-lie  in  the  glass  cases  of  the  Kertch 
museum  in  the  Imperial  Hermitage  of  St   Petersburg.^ 
and  the  Scythians  disappear,  absorbed  and  swept  away 
bv    the    Sarmatians    and    those   innumerable   nomadic 
tribes  which  Asia  sent  out  on  Europe,  fe  destructive 
winds  from  the  depths  of  her  deserts.^     Thus  break 
the  threads  which  attach  our  history  to  Herodotus. 

The  nomadic  tribes  of  Asia  continue  their  mcursions 
on  the  plains  of  Southeastern  Europe  from  Herodotus 
times  down  to  the  thirteenth  century  of  our  era.     The 
chief  moments  of  these  incursions  are:    the   Huns  m 
the  fifth  century,  the  Avars,  repelled  by  Charlemagne 
in  the  eighth  century,  and  the  Mongolians,  with  whose 
invasion  in  1 224  the  Tartar  yoke  of  Russia  begins.    But, 
long  before  that  date,  in  the  earliest  time  of  our  era,  the 
Asiatic  hordes  meet  with  a  new  people,  who  are  livmg 
at  the  very  entrance  of  Western  Europe,  at  the  foot  of 
the  Carpathian  Mountains  along  the  lower  course  of  the 
Danube.     These  are  Slavonians ;  their  forefathers  were' 
known  to  Tacitus,  as  living  on  the  southeast  shores  of 
the   Baltic.     When  Tacitus  asks  himself   whether  he 
shall  classify  them   among  Asiatics  or  among   Euro- 

1  On  excavations  in  Southern  Russia:  "Antiquites  du  Bosphore  Cim- 
m^rien  conservees  au  Mus6e  Imperial  de  I'Hennitage."  3  vols.  St. 
Petersburg,  1854.  "Compte  rendu  de  la  Commission  Imperiale  Arche- 
ologique  pour  les  annees  1 859-1 883  avec  atlas  in  {"."  St.  Petersburg, 
1 860- 1 883.  "Recueil  d'antiquites  de  la  Scythie  public  par  la  Commis- 
sion Imp.  Archeol."  St.  Petersburg,  1866-1870.  N.  Kondakov  and  CU 
T.  Tolstoi,  "  Antiquites  de  la  Russie  m^ridionale."     Paris,  1891. 

2  On  these  early  times :    E.  Bonnel,  "  Beitrage  zur  Alterthumskundfr 
Russlands."     St  Petersburg,  1882. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  33 


peans,  he  answers:  among  the  latter,  for  they  build 
houses,  wear  shields,  and  fight  on  foot,  all  which  is  just 
the  contrary  of  what  the  Sarmatians  do,  who  live  in 
vehicles  and  fight  on  horseback.^  Thus  the  great 
Roman  historian  anticipates  the  statements  of  an- 
thropology, comparative  philology,  and  other  modem 
sciences  by  the  sagacity  of  his  observation  and  his 
unprejudiced  judgment. 

How  far,  how  different  this  early  verdict  of  history 
from  the  opinion  of  that  German  writer,  who  at  the  be- 
ginning of  our  century  divided  human  beings  into  wrn 
and  Russians.  But  then  Klinger  was  a  poet  and  not  a 
historian  nor  a  philologist.  Historians  know  that  the 
Slavonians  with  the  Greek,  Latins,  and  Germans  belong 
to  the  great  Indo-Aryan  family,  which,  centuries  be- 
fore history's  record  begins,  moved  from  India  through 
Central  Asia  and  the  Caucasus  westward  ;  *  and  philolo- 
gists know  that  of  all  European  languages  the  Slavo- 

*  C.  C.  Tacitus,  "  De  moribus  Germanorum,"  cap.  xlvi  "  Peucino- 
rum  Vcnedorumque  et  Fennorum  nationes  Gcnnani*  an  Sarmatit  »d- 
scribam,  dubito.  .  .  .  Venedi  multum  ex  moribus  traxenint  .  .  .  inter 
Germanos  potius  refcruntur,  quia  et  domos  fingunt,"  etc  .  .  .  "Gcr- 
mani"  here  is  taken  as  a  generic  appellation  for  all  European  "barba- 
rians "  (who  evidently  are  not  differentiated  in  Tacitus'  mind),  whereat, 
"  Sarmati "  designates  Asiatic  "  barbarians."  The  "  Venedi,"  whatever 
their  nationality,  by  the  fact  of  being  called  "Germani"  are  classified 
among  those  whom  the  historian  opposes  to  the  "Sarmati,"  ij.  among 
Europeans.  As  to  the  identification  of  the  "  Venedi  "  with  the  Slavonians, 
we  rely  upon  Solovieff  ("  History  of  Russia,"  vol.  i,  ch.  iii),  who  bases 
himself  on:  Pliny,  "Hist  Nat."  I,  iv,  c.  13.  Tacit  "Germ."  vi,  c.  7. 
Ptulem.  "Gcogr."  i,  iii,  c.  5  ;  I,  v,  c.  9.  PeripL  in  Geogr.  veteris  Script 
gracci  minores."  ed.  Hudson,  I,  54-57.  Jomandes,  "  De  Getaram  origine 
el  rebus  gestis,"  c.  5. 

«  On  the  Slavonians :  Zeuss,  "  Die  Deutschen  und  die  Nachbarstimme." 
1837.     SouroveUky  (translated  by  Scbaffarik)  "Ueber  die  Abkunft  der 
Slaven."     Ofen,  1828. 
O 


34  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


nian  idioms  stand  the  nearest  to  the  old  Indo-Iranian 

stock.^ 

As  you  see,  Tacitus  does  not  mention  the  Slavonians 
as  moving  from  Asia ;  when  he  knows  them  they  are 
already  incorporated  in  Europe  and  they  are  one  of 
the  elements  by  which  Europe  resists  Asiatic  incur- 
sions. Nothing  is  known  as  to  the  date  of  their  exodus 
from  the  common  Indo-Aryan  cradle,  nothing  about 
their  march  westward,  and  the  first  independent  act  of 
the  Slavonians,  registered  by  history,  is  on  the  contrary 
their  migration  from  the  slopes  of  the  Carpathians 
down  into  the  valleys  of  the  Dniester  and  the  Dnieper,^ 
consequently  a  movement  eastward.^  This  is  signifi- 
cant and  commands  the  attention  of  anyone  who  has 
meditated  on  the  destinies  of  nations  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  great  historical  lines. 

The  migratory  movement  of  humanity  has  always 
been  from  the  east  westward,  and  not  only  men  but  all 
living  beings,  all  animal  and  vegetable  species,  accord- 
ing to  the  statements  of  natural  science,  have  followed 
the  same  direction  —  "  the  direction  of  the  sun  "  as  we 
commonly  say.  It  is  even  considered  one  of  the  condi- 
tions of  successful  colonization  —  to  follow  consciously 
the  direction  of  the  universal  movement*     With  regard 

1  On  Slavonic  language :  Miklosich,  "  Lautlehre  der  altslavonischen 
Sprache."  "  Formlehre  der  altslavonischen  Sprache."  Vienna,  1850. 
'♦  Slavische  Bibliothek  oder  Beitrage  zur  slavonischen  Philologie  und 
Geschichte,"  2  B.  Vienna,  1851-1858.  And  numerous  smaller  writings  by 
the  same  on  more  special  questions  of  Slavonic  philology. 

*  "  The  presence  of  the  Slavonians  in  the  Danube  region  in  ancient 
times  has  left  clear  traces  in  the  names  of  towns."  (S.  Solovicff,  "  Hist, 
of  Russia,"  vol.  i,  chap,  iii.)  See  Schaffarik  (Safarik),  "Slavische  Alter- 
thiimer,"  2  B.    Leipzig,  1843- 1844. 

*  S.  Solovieff,  op.  ciL 

*  Basile  Conta, "  Theorie  de  I'ondulation  aniverselle."    Paris,  1895.    T*»e 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  35 

to  the  movements  of  the  European  nations  within  the 
limits  of  the  old  continent,  we  may  observe,  that  for 
those  of  them  which  have  followed  the  universal,  the 
physical  law,  the  westward  direction  has  always  been  a 
source  of  mental  growth,  whereas  the  opposite  tendency- 
led  to  a  field  of  sharing ;  we  might  characterize  the  two 
directions  by  saying  thus,  the  movement  of  a  European 
nation   eastward  is  educating,  whereas  the  movement 
westward   is   self-educating.       I    wish   to   submit   this 
question   which    throws   such   an    interesting  light  on 
Russia's  destiny  to  the  attention  of  those  interested  in 
philosophy  of  history ;  they  may  take  these  facts  as  a 
starting-point,  far  more,  as  a  basis  for  their  judgment 
of  the  different  events  of  Russian  history  —  and  I  feel 
entitled  to  assert  that  they  will  not  draw  a  false  conclu- 
sion even  if  not  very  well  versed  in  facts.     Any  a  priori 
statement  which  they  may  establish  on  that  basis  will 
find  its  posterior  justification.     Goethe's  words  may  be 
applied  in  full  security  :  "  Was  dcr  Geist  verspricht.  das 
halt  die  Natur."     (That  which  the  mind  promises,  nat- 
ure keeps.)    Those  who  may  consider  Russian  history 
and  especially  Russian  politics  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  westward  and  eastward  tendencies  of  the  human 
races  will  see  that  they  have  struck  the  key-note  of  that 
people  whose  ancestry,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventh 
century,  moved  from  the  lower  course  of  the  Danube, 
and  which,  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century,  be- 
comes the  arbiter  between  China  and  Japan. 

In  their  march  eastward  the  ancient  Slavonians  moved 
gradually,  and  during  the  two  centuries  of  their  migra- 
tion they  founded  a  succession  of  states  which  settled 

Greek  colonic*  in  A.ia  Minor  in  antiquity  and  AustraUa  in  modem  tii^ 
•eem  to  offer  the  only  examples  conUadicling  the  above  lUtement. 


36  PICTURES^  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 


down  while  the  others  were  continuing  their  way.  Thus 
arose  one  after  the  other,  the  Samo,  the  Chrobatian,  the 
Servian,  the  Great  Moravian,  and  finally  the  Russian 
state.  You  remember  that  the  date  of  862  is  the  one 
which  marks  the  beginning  of  our  history;  the  event 
which  stands  in  connection  with  this  date  is  known  as 
"the  calling  of  the  princes."  This  is  how  the  old 
chronicles  relate  the  story  of  Russia's  origin. 

The  tribes  which  lived  along  the  course  of  the 
Dnieper  and  its  tributaries,  exhausted  by  continuous  m- 
cursions  on  one  another  and  molested  by  their  nomadic 
neighbours,  decide  to  send  a  deputation  over  sea  to 
Nor\vay  to  choose  a  sovereign  among  the  Varegues. 
"Our  land  is  vast  and  fertile,  but  no  order  in  it  — do 
come  and  rule  over  us."  So  the  deputies  said  when 
they  stood  before  Rurik,  chief  of  the  Norman  tribe 
called  Russ;  and  Prince  Rurik  came  over,  settled  at 
Novgorod,  and  started  the  Russian  state.^ 

This  fact  is  one  of  those  vulnerable  points  of  our 
history  which  have  the  property  of  unchaining  endless 
polemics.  The  national  party  feels  hurt  in  its  patriot- 
ism by  that  "Norman  theory"  which  confers  on  for- 
eigners the  honour  of  having  been  the  founders  of  Rus- 
sia. Lomonosov  was  the  first  to  start  the  alarm  in  the 
last  century,  and  since  then  discussions  have  never  ceased. 
We  will  not  enter  into  the  fastidious  controversies  round 
the  question  whether  the  word  "  Varegue  "  is  the  name 
of  a  tribe  or  a  military  denomination,  whether  Rurik 

*  On  Russia's  origin :  W.  Thomsen,  "  Ursprang  des  rnssischen  Staates," 
1879.  A.  A.  Kunik,  "Die  Berufung  der  Schvedo-Russen  durcb  die  Fin- 
nen  und  Slovenen,"  St  Petersburg,  1S44-1845.  Ewers,  "  Veritische  Vor- 
arbeiten  zur  Geschicbte  der  Russcn."  Krug,  **  Forschongen,"  2  B.  St. 
Petetsborg,  1848. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  37 

comes  from  Norway  or  from  actual  Prussia ;  whether  he 
is  a  Norman  or  a  Slavonian.  Is  it  really  so  very  humili> 
ating  to  have  one's  history  begin  with  a  foreign  domin- 
ion ?  Which  is  the  European  nation  whose  history 
begins  otherwise  ?  Anglo-Saxons,  Franks  and  Celts, 
Germans  and  Romans  —  all  European  nations  are  the 
result  of  invasions,  conflicts,  fusions. 

It  is  as  if  Nature  would  not  permit  an  act  of  national 
self-generation.  Ancient  Romans  were  not  less  proud 
than  we  are,  and  still  their  national  feeling  did  not  inter- 
fere when  popular  fiction  connected  their  origin  with  the 
foundation  of  Alba  Longa  by  /Eneas,  the  unfortunate 
exile  of  destroyed  Troy,  for  they  knew  that  even  the 
most  fantastic  legend  conforms  with  Nature's  laws. 

The  Varegucs  were  no  new-comers  in  the  country. 
When  the  successors  of  Rurik,  abandoning  Novgorod, 
moved  down  to  Kiev,  they  found  many  of  their  own 
people  settled  there,  for  since  many  years  the  great 
river  Dnieper  had  become  a  commercial  passage  from 
Norway  down  to  the  Black  Sea  and  to  the  splendid  and 
opulent  chief  town  of  the  Byzantine  Empire ;  this  was 
such  a  powerful  point  of  attraction  that  this  early  period 
of  our  history  is  full  of  raids  on  Byzantium.  But  this 
half-commercial,  half-military  intercourse  with  the  east- 
ern Roman  Empire  was  destined  to  have  a  greater  im- 
portance. Pascal  says  that  rivers  are  walking  roads  — 
by  that  walking  road,  the  Dnieper,  Christianity  entered 
Russia. 

It  did  not  enter  at  once.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
tenth  century  it  infiltrates  by  individual  cases ;  in  the 
middle  of  the  century  there  was  already  a  church  in 
Kiev  (consecrated  to  St.  Elijah>  In  957  Princess 
Olga,  mother  of  the  ruling  Prince  Sviatoslav  (Rurik's 

100536 


38  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

grandson),  goes  to  Byzantium  to  be  baptized  in  the 
Christian  faith;    the   Emperor   himself    is    her    god- 
father.i      Her    son    did   not  consent  to   give   up   the 
paganism  of  his  forefathers,  but  her  grandson,  Prince 
Vladimir,  sent  ambassadors  to  investigate  the  religions 
of  foreign  countries.     When  they  came  back,  they  said 
to  their  prince  :  "  No  man  would  like  to  eat  bitter  after 
having  tasted  honey,  so  we  cannot  think  of  returning  to 
our  gods  after  having  witnessed  the  divine  service  of 
the  Greek."     The  service  which  made  such  a  profound 
impression  on  Vladimir's  ambassadors  was  the  solemn 
liturgy  celebrated  by  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople 
in  the  presence  of  the  two  brother-emperors  Constan- 
tine  and  Basil,  under  the  dome  of  St.  Sophia.     Vladi- 
mir decided  to  embrace  the  Christian  religion  and  to 
request  the  Byzantine  emperors  that  they  would  pro- 
vide for  the  baptism  of  his  people.     But  he  did  not 
care  to  take  up  the  part  of  a  simple  solicitor;   so  he 
marched  with  his  soldiers  against  Chersonesos,  a  Greek 
colony,  on  the  coast  of  the  present  Crimea,  intending 
in  the  case  of  success  to  make  of  the  new  religion  a 
sort  of  military  contribution.     The   plan   was   carried 
out,  Chersonesos  was  taken,  and  ambassadors  were  sent 
to  Constantinople  to  ask  the  Emperor's  sister  Anna  in 
marriage  for  Prince  Vladimir.     The  change  of  religion 
was  required  as  the  condition  from  the  Emperor's  side, 
and  when  Vladimir  assented,  a  Greek  bishop  came  over 

1  In  the  following  poetical  terms  does  the  old  chronicler  picture  the  signif- 
icance of  Princess  Olga's  baptism.  "  She  was  the  forerunner  of  Christianity 
in  Russia,  as  the  morning  star  is  the  precursor  of  the  sun,  and  the  dawn  the 
precursor  of  the  day.  As  the  moon  shines  at  midnight  she  shone  in  the 
midst  of  a  pagan  people.  She  was  like  a  pearl  amid  dirt,  for  the  people 
were  in  the  mire  of  their  sins  and  not  purified  by  baptism.  She  purified 
herself  in  a  holy  bath  and  removed  the  garb  of  sin  of  the  old  man  Adam." 


\ 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  39 

to  Chersonesos.  A  fine  church  at  a  short  distance  from 
Sebastopol  contains  in  our  days  the  marble  basin 
wherein  the  baptizer  of  Russia  was  baptized  in  the 
Christian  faith.  When  Vladimir  returned  to  Kiev  the 
whole  population  was  gathered  into  the  Dnieper,  parted 
in  different  groups,  every  group  received  a  new  name, 
and  all  were  baptized  in  the  Christian  faith.  This  was 
in  987.  When  in  the  ne.xt  century  the  dissensions 
between  Constantinople  and  Rome  brought  about  the 
great  scission  of  the  Christian  Church,  Russia,  as  the 
god-daughter  of  Byzantium,  followed  her  example  and 
ever  since  has  refused  acknowledgment  of  the  Pope's 
supremacy. 

Vladimir  becomes  a  zealous  Christian  ;  thanks  to  him, 
churches,  cathedrals,  monasteries  spring  up  on  the 
picturesque  bank  of  the  Dnieper,  and  Kiev  becomes 
and  remains  till  this  hour  a  point  of  pilgrimage  for  the 
whole  country.  After  his  death  the  Grand  Duke  Vladi- 
mir, canonized  by  the  Church,  becomes  one  of  the 
most  revered  saints,  but  he  becomes  also  the  centre 
of  national  epic  poetry.  Let  us  take  this  double 
character  of  Vladimir's  memory  as  a  guidepost  for  our 
further  investigations ;  let  us  examine  first  the  activity 
stirred  up  by  the  newly  imported  religion,  and  let  us 
then  pass  over  to  the  native  elements  which  find  ex- 
pression for  themselves  in  national  poetry. 

The  first  agents  of  the  preaching  of  Christianity  were 
the  Greek  clergy;  the  channel  by  which  it  entered 
people's  consciences  was  the  Slavonic  translation  of  the 
Bible  effected  by  the  two  Greek  brothers  Cyril  and 
Methodius,  a  century  before,  for  the  use  of  the  Mora- 
vians;* the  hearths  whence  Christianity  irradiated  to 
»  See  Louii  Uger,  "  Cjrrile  et  Melhode."    P«m,  1868. 


40  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


spread  over  the  country  were  monasteries.  We  hardly 
can  realize  the  importance  of  monasteries  at  that  time, 
in  a  country  where  there  were  no  schools,  no  trace  of 
learning,  a  country .  whose  national  self-consciousness 
was  only  just  beginning  to  awake,  and  had  no  moral 
centre  to  converge  to,  a  country  whose  greatest  part 
was  plunged  in  deepest  night  of  paganism,  and  whose 
population  was  in  full  activity  of  poetical  creation, 
composing  those  songs  which  were  to  become  the  lay 
collaborators  of  the  clergy  in  educatmg  future  genera- 
tions. 

The  monastery  is  the  summit  of  everything  at  that 
time:   it  accumulates  all  virtue,  all  learning,  and,  we 
might  as  well  say,  all  power,  for  except  in  warfare  the 
advice  of  those  learned  men  who  lived  in  prayer  and 
fasting  was  often  asked  and  followed  by  the  princes. 
The    princes   themselves   gravitate  to  the   monastery; 
the  two  powers  respectively  attract   each   other;   the 
princes,  having  been  the  first  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of 
learning,  become   by   right   of   intellectual   aristocracy 
the   immediate   accessories  of   the   monks  outside  the 
monastery's  gates ;  they  often  themselves  resemble  mo- 
nastic warriors  or  martial  monks.     Such  are  the  con- 
ditions of  individual  life  in  the  early  age  of  nations :  a 
man  cannot  provide  for  his  physical  necessities  unless  he 
fights :  he  cannot  read  a  book  unless  he  becomes  a  monk ; 
the  gradual  attenuation  of  these  two  extremes  is  what  we 
call  civilization,  and  its  degree  can  be  measured  by  the  fa- 
cility with  which  both  physical  and  intellectual  necessities 
can  be  satisfied  without  encroaching  upon  each  other. 

The  literature  which  originated  and  grew  in  the 
monasteries  consisted  either  of  translations  from  the 
Greek,  or  of  original  writings ;  the  first  became  the  pat- 


U 


AND   RUSSIAN   UTERATURE  41 

terns  imitated  by  the  latter.  It  was  of  sacred  character ; 
lives  of  saints,  sermons,  descriptions  of  pilgrimages,  etc- 
All  these  writings  in  the  impressions  they  produce  present 
a  strange  combination  of  a  sort  of  affected  didacticism 
(inevitable  in  any  literature  of  imitative  character),  and 
of  a  genuine  artlessness  and  freshness  which  find  way 
through  the  exigences  of  a  severe  form  imported  by 
foreign  teachers.* 

Amidst  the  rude  specimens  of  ecclesiastical  eloquence 
of  that  time  the  sermon  of  Bishop  Ilarion  (105 1),  "On 
the  law  and  the  grace,"  stands  apart  from  all  else,  and 
forms  in  its  way  a  literary  phenomenon.  "  If  you  trans- 
late it  into  modern  Russian,"  says  a  critic,  "you  may 
take  it  for  a  discourse  of  Karamsin's, —  so  beautifully 
eloquent  it  is  and  so  masterly  composed."* 

A  great  charm  emanates  from  the  description  of  a 
pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  by  the  Prior  Daniel.*  The 
humble  monk  writes  down  all  he  has  seen  in  order  to 
give  a  spiritual  satisfaction  to  those  who  would  like, 
"  though  with  their  bodies  remaining  at  home,"  to 
make  a  mental  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  "  for  many 
people,"  he  says,  "attain  the  Holy  Land  not  by  travel- 
ling, but  simply  by  their  good  deeds."  Interesting  are 
the  historical  particulars  of  his  sojourn  in  Palestine:  the 
kindness  of  King  Baldwin  of  Jerusalem,  who  invited 
the  Russian  pilgrim  to  accompany  him  in  his  exi>edi- 

1  Sec  Schaffarik  (§afarik)  "  Uebenicht  der  iltesten  ktrdulavoniacheB 
Literal  ur."     Leipzig,  1848. 

«  Goloubinsky,  "  History  of  the  RusaiAn  Church."  3  Toh.  Moscow, 
1880  (Russian). 

•  French  translation  by  A.  Norov,  "  Igooin^ne  niue,  Pilerinaje  ea 
Terre  Sainte  au  commencement  du  xii  siicle  (ll  13-11 15),"  St  Petersburg, 
1864.  German  transl.  by  A.  Leskicn  in  "  Zeitschrift  des  Deutachcn  P«li»> 
tinavereins,"  B.  viL     Leipzig,  1 884. 


I 

42  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

tion  to  Damascus;  touching  is  his  constant  preoccupa- 
tion with  his  own  people  left  at  home ;  the  recital  of 
how  he  went  to  the  market,  how  he  bought  a  big  crystal 
hanging  lamp,  how  he  filled  it  with  oil  —  "pure  oil, 
without  water" — how  he  placed  it  at  the  foot  of  our 
Lord's  Sepulchre,  — "  and  there  it  was  lighted,"  he 
adds,"  in  the  name  of  all  the  Russian  princes,  of  all  the 
Russian  land,  and  all  the  Christians  of  the  Russian 
land."  1 

Parallel  with  this  strictly  religious  literature,  in  the  ec- 
clesiastic sense  of  the  word,.a  collateral  popular  religious 
literature  developed.  From  the  very  first  the  inquiring 
mind  of  the  early  Christians  had  been  interested  in 
those  facts  of  the  holy  history  which  are  only  men- 
tioned but  not  described  in  the  Scriptures ;  and  in 
Russia,  as  in  Western  Europe,  a  great  many  writings 
appear  as  a  sort  of  supplement  to  the  Bible.  Among 
these  apocryphas  we  must  mention  the  very  popular 
"Wandering  of  God's  Mother  through  the  Tortures" 
(twelfth  century).  The  Virgin  Mary  one  day  after  her 
assumption,  attended  by  the  Archangel  Michael,  under- 
takes to  visit  all  who  are  suffering  in  the  different 
circles  of  hell.  When  she  returns  from  her  doleful 
peregrination  and  stands  in  the  presence  of  Jesus 
Christ,  she  intercedes  for  the  unfortunate  sinners.  The 
Son  of  God,  "  for  the  sake  of  His  Father's  mercy,  for  the 
sake  of  His  Mother's  prayer,  for  the  sake  of  Michael, 
the  Archangel,  and  for  the  sake  of  all  the  Saints," 
releases  the  sinners  from  pains  for  fifty-two -days, — 
from  Good  Thursday  to  Pentecost. 

»  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  with  his  epic  style  the  author  of  the  "  Kl- 
grimage"  combines  such  topographical  precUion  that  even  to-day  the 
French  Dominicans  in  their  archaeological  researches  rely  upon  it 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITER.\TURE  43 

This  apocryphical  literature  had  a  great  influence  on 
the  imaginative  spirit  of  the  people,  and  brought  about 
a  kind  of  poetry  which  we  might  call  "  ecclesiastic  folk- 
lore" ;  and  which  we  shall  examine  later.  ^ 

The  most  precious  relics,  transmitted  to  us  by  the 
diligence  of  the  monks,  are  the  annals  of  our  history. 
Observed  by  ocular  witnesses  or  gathered  from  others' 
recitals,  the  turbulent  events  of  those  ages  are  intro- 
duced under  the  silent  vaults  of  the  cell,  and,  by  the 
trembling  light  of  the  oil-lamp,  fixed  by  a  pious  hand 
on  the  yellow  parchment.  The  oldest  annals  are  those 
by  Nestor,  a  monk  of  the  eleventh  century,  who  is  revered 
as  the  "  father  of  Russian  history,"  and  the  oldest  tran- 
script of  his  annals  is  a  manuscript  of  1 377,  consequently 
almost  three  hundred  years  later  than  the  original.* 
Its  title  in  an  approximate  translation  would  read  as 
follows :  '•  Narration  of  Times  of  Yore :  about  how 
Russia  came  to  life,  about  who  was  the  first  to  rule  in 
Kiev,  and  how  the  Russian  country  began  to  be."' 
Like  all  chroniclers  of  all  countries,  Nestor  begins  his 
narration  from  the  Biblical  times,  viz.,  with  Noah,  and 
in  following  up  the  different  descendants  of  Shem, 
Ham,  and  Japheth  in  their  wanderings  he  gets  to  the 
Slavonians  and  finally  to  the  Russians. 

Two  hundred  and  sixty  years  of  our  history  are  de- 
scribed by  him,  — from  850  to  I  no;  of  the  last  forty 
years  he  speaks  as  an  ocular  witness.* 

»  Russia'*  oldest  written  document  is  the  so-called  *•  Gospel  of  Ostro* 
mir  "  —  the  text  of  the  gospel  transcribed  by  a  deacon  called  Gregory,  foe 
Ostromir,  provost  of  Novgorod,  in  1056-1057.  It  it  preserved  in  the  Im- 
perial Public  Library  at  St.  Petersburg. 

a  French  translation  by  Lx)uis  I><gcr.     Paris,  Leroax,  1884. 

»  Russian  chronicles  precede  by  one  century  the  first  French  chronicl* 
by  Villehardouin  (d.  1 21 3)  and  the  first  Italiao  annab  by  Matteo  Spi* 


44  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

Many  followed  Nestor's  example ;  others  transcribed 
or  compiled  in  chronological  order  disjointed  fragments  of 
older  annals,  wishing  as  one  of  them  says  "to  gather 
all  these  flowers  into  one  verbal  basket."  Thus,  an 
uninterrupted  thread  of  chronicles  runs  through  the 
whole  history,  dying  away  towards  the  last  years  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  With  the  continuous  process  of 
copying,  a  sort  of  superposition  could  not  help  forming 
over  the  original  text ;  later  investigations  and  discoveries 
have  undermined  the  reliability  of  some  of  the  narra- 
tions regarding  the  earliest  times,  still  they  remain 
unaltered  at  the  bottom  of  our  national  creed :  science 
may  show  us  as  clearly  as  two  and  two  are  four,  that 
we  were  oysters  before  we  evolved  into  human  shape, 
—  we  shall  never  cease  admiring  Raphael's  frescos 
representing  the  six  days  of  the  creation.^ 

It  is  hard  for  one  not  familiar  with  the  text  to  form 
an  idea  of  the  impression  produced  by  these  annals; 
the  simplicity  and  majesty  of  the  language,^  joined  to  a 
complete  absence  of  literary  effort  and  any  personal 
element,^  are  of  such  power  that  a  few  quotations  in  a 
page  of  modern  Russian  text  communicate  a  peculiar 

nella  (iZ47-i268).  One  of  the  earliest  German  chronicles  dates  from  the 
fourteenth  century  (Johann  Riedesel,  of  Hess,  d.  1341).  Chronicles  con- 
temporary with  that  of  Nestor  were  transcribed  only  in  two  languages: 
Greek  in  Byzantium,  Latin  in  the  rest  of  Europe. 

1  One  of  the  best  researches  on  Russian  chronicles  is  the  work  of 
Schloezer:  "Nestor.  Russische  Annalen  in  ihrer  Slavischen  Grund- 
sprache  verglichen,  ubcrsetzt  und  erklart"  5  B.  Gottingen,  1805- 
1809. 

*  Fr.  Miklosich,  "Ueber  die  Sprache  der  altesten  russischen  Oironis- 
ten,  vorzuglich  Nestor's."    Vienna,  1855. 

»  Impersonality  is  the  characteristic  feature  by  which  Russian  annals 
differ  from  the  western  as  those  by  Villehardouin,  Joinville,  Froissart, 
Giovanni  Villani,  and  others. 


(m 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  45 


dignity  to  the  style  of  the  simplest  manual  of  Russian 
history.* 

Such  were  the  chief  elements  of  the  intellectual  life 
which  developed  on  the  basis  of  the  newly  imported 
Byzantine  Christianity.  Let  us  now  follow  them  up 
outside  the  threshold  of  the  convent,  and  let  us  sec 
what  resulted  from  their  encounter  with  the  genuine 
currents  of  poetical  creation  working  in  the  people. 

We  said  awhile  ago  that  Christianity  found  this 
people  in  the  full  activity  of  its  imaginative  powers ;  this 
produced  a  very  strange  conflict,  or  rather  fusion,  at  the 
cost  of  reciprocal  concessions  or  compromises  between 
the  new  religion  and  the  preceding  divinizing  of  Nature's 
powers.  The  life  of  the  people  was  full  of  ceremonies 
and  rites,  by  which  it  used  to  celebrate  all  the  events  of 
existence  from  birth  to  death ;  all  this  could  not  be  up- 
rooted at  once,  and,  incapable  of  giving  up  their  habits, 
the  people  incorporated  them  into  the  new  religion. 

Many  customs,  such  as  dancing,  singing  certain  songs, 
jumping  over  burning  piles,  collecting  certain  plants, 
were  transported  to  Christian  holidays,  —  the  mere 
agreement  in  the  phonetic  consonants  of  the  name  of 
a  Christian  saint  and  that  of  a  former  God  being  often 
a  sufficient  reason  for  such  a  transplantation ;  all  festivi- 
ties in  honour  of  the  summer  were  grouped  round  St 
John's  day  (24th  of  June);  the  prophet  Elijah  took  the 
place  of  the  former  god  of  thunder,  and  even  to-day 
popular  superstition  identifies  thunder  with  the  rolling 
of  Iilijah's  fire-wheeled  chariot.  By  and  by  the  old  sig- 
nificance faded  away  from  the  people's  memory :   that 


>  According  to  a  critic  the  ttyle  of  Ne«tor'»  annals  could  hart 
only  under  the  influence  of  a  close  acquainUnce  with  the  Bible.     Shrry- 
rioff,  "  History  of  Ruuian  Literature"    4  ▼ol*-     Moscow,  i860  (RoMiaa). 


46  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN    HISTORY 

which  was  a  rite  centuries  ago  survives  as  an  ordinary 
amusement,  with  no  inner  meaning,  and  simply  connected 
with  a  certain  date  or  a  certain  time  of  the  year.^  But 
the  clergy  had  to  fight  for  a  long  time  against  what  re- 
ceived the  alarming  and  suggestive  name  of  "duple- 
creed." 

Strange  to  say,  in  spite  of  this  vitality  of  the  ritual 
side  of  paganism,  the  people's  spiritual  interest  was 
radically  turned  towards  Christian  subjects;  we  might 
say  that  elements  of  the  old  creed  kept  hold  of  the 
people's  memory,  whereas  Christianity  took  hold  of  its 
imagination.  This  is  a  side  of  the  question  that  has  not 
been  appreciated  by  those  of  our  critics  who  deplore  the 
insufficiency  of  the  Christian  culture  at  that  time  and 
accuse  our  early  clergy  of  inactivity.  A  whole  world 
of  poetical  creation,  something  like  a  "religious  folk- 
lore," stands  there  to  indicate  that,  whatever  the  poverty 
of  missionary  means  was,  however  vague  the  first  delinea- 
tion of  the  Christian  code  of  morality,  Christianity  in  the 
person  of  its  founders  and  in  the  events  of  its  history  had 
become  a  constant  companion  of  national  thought ;  how- 
ever fantastic  sometimes  the  subjects  of  these  songs,  how- 
ever skin-deep  the  comprehension  of  the  real  Christian 
spirit,  they  spread  the  names  and  facts,  they  made  them 
familiar  to  the  people,  they  prepared  for  the  acceptance 
of  the  law's  spirit ;  it  was  like  a  self-education  of  a  big 
child :  popular  imagination  became  the  missionary  of 
popular  belief.  Let  us  mention  a  few  of  these  "reli- 
gious poems,"  and  first  of  all  that  touching  song  called 

1  On  Slavonic  mythology:  Dr.  Gr.  Krek,  "Einleitung  in  die  Slavische 
Literaturgeschichte."  GraU,  1887.  Louis  Legcr,  "Esquisse  sommaire 
de  la  mythologie  Slave,"  in  "  Nouvelles  etudes  slaves."  2d  serie.  Paris, 
1886. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  47 

"  Adam's  Lament,"  which  begins  with  the  desperate  call 
of  a  man  who  feels  the  irreparability  of  his  loss :  — 

Paradise,  my  paradise, 
Beautiful  my  paradise! 

For  my  sake, 
Paradise,  thou  wert  created. 

By  Eve's  £»ilt. 
Paradise,  thou  hast  been  closed! 

Joseph  is  a  popular  personage,  Solomon  is  a  favourite; 
the  chief  events  of  the  New  Testament,  the  Annuncia- 
tion, St.  John  the  Precursor,  the  Baptism  of  our  Lord, 
Christmas,  are  all  treated  as  subjects  for  poetry.  The 
"  Song  of  the  Dove-Book  "  unrolls  a  curious  scheme  of 
cosmogony.  A  book  falls  down  from  heaven,  and  fantas- 
tic kings  from  Da\'id  to  Vladimir  gather  round  it  and  by 
reading  it  learn  all  that  is  going  on  ever)'whcre  "  even  in 
the  depths  '*;  a  queer  geography  appears  in  this  anachro- 
nistic story,  where  Jerusalem  is  taken  as  the  "  umbilicus 
of  the  earth,"  and  where  the  river  Jordan  flows  out  of  the 
lake  Ilmen,  —  the  one  near  which  Rurik  settled  down.* 

Parallel  with  this  poetry,  which  is  an  evident  result 
of  imported  literary  influence,  we  see  the  vigorous  ui>- 
springing  of  genuine  epic  poetry.  The  chief  motive  of 
the  so-called  "  Kievcycle  "  is  the  fighting  with  the  Mon- 
golian  tribes  of  the  east  or,  according  to  the  expres- 
sion of  one  of  our  critics,  the  fight  with  the  desert.* 
We  touch  here  one  of  the  manifestations  of  the  sec- 
ular struggle  between  Europe  and  Asia,  which  began 

»  On  Russia's  apocryphal  literature :  M.  Gastner,  ••  Hchester  lectnies  oa 
Greco-Slavonic  literature  and  iu  relation  to  the  folk-lore  of  Europe  dur- 
ing the  Middle  Agca."     London,  1887. 

«  A  quite  different  character  ii  presented  by  the  "Novgorod  Cjrck"; 
this  commercial  republic,  which  belonged  lo  the  Hanieatic  League,  and 


48  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

under  the  walls  of  Troy  and  remains  undecided  until 
to-day. 

Ilia  Mouromets  is  the  most  typical  and  popular  figure 
of  the  Kiev  epopee :  a  peasant-hero,  not  a  warrior,  with 
a  sense  of  justice  and  a  natural  aversion  to  all  iniquity ; 
simple-hearted,  good-natured,  never  making  a  fuss  about 
his  exploits,  he  rides  along  on  his  steed,  and  with  that 
supernatural  strength  with  which  two  unknown  beggar- 
travellers  one  day  endowed  him  by  means  of  a  beverage, 
he  fights  against  evil,  and  protects  misery  and  weakness ; 
cheerful  and  jolly,  of  pleasant  company,  he  becomes  a 
favourite  at  Prince  Vladimir's  table,  commanding  respect 
from  everyone  and  keeping  a  sort  of  rank  of  his  own 
among  the  noble  members  of  the  Prince's  household.  If 
Ilia  is  the  soul  of  the  epopee,  Vladimir  is  its  centre.  The 
hospitable  court  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Kiev,  where  once 
a  week  a  table  is  dressed  for  the  "  boyars  "  and  the  doors 
of  the  kitchen  always  stand  open  for  the  poor,  is  the  con- 
verging point  where  all  heroes  gather;  it  is  to  their 
Prince's  service  they  bring  their  physical  strength,  it  is 
for  his  glory  they  fight,  for  "Vladimir,  our  beautiful 
sun,"  is  the  hope  and  joy  of  everybody,  he  is  the  light  of 
the  country,  the  smile  of  the  people;  other  princes 
scarcely  exist,  he  counts  for  all  Russia,  and  centuries 
after  he  has  died  he  is  still  the  Grand  Duke  of  Kiev. 
Thus  anticipating  history,  popular  fiction  accomplished 
in  the  Kiev-period  that  union  of  the  country  which 
actually  was  secured  only  in  the  middle  of  the  Mosco- 
vite  period. 

The  characteristic  of  the  Russian  epopee  consists  in 

flourished  till  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  brought  to  life  a  sort  of 
poetry  we  might  call  «*  commercial  epopee  "  as  a  contrast  to  the  "  heroic 
epopee  "  of  Kiev. 


\ 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  49 

the  fact  that,  while  in  Western  Europe  the  epic  songs 
had  become  the  prey  of  individual  poets  and  thus 
were  transmitted  to  print,  not  as  popular  productions, 
but  as  literary  compositions,  our  epopees  preserved 
their  virgin  freshness  till  the  very  moment  they  were 
fixed  by  print.  The  writing  down  of  our  epic  songs 
began  in  the  last  century,  though  at  first  with  no  great 
result ;  towards  the  middle  of  the  present  century,  how- 
ever, a  few  zealous  seekers,  exploring  the  northern  prov- 
inces of  Russia,  succeeded  in  discovering  positively 
inexhaustible  treasures  of  epic  poetry,  which  were 
brought  to  light  hardly  more  than  twenty  years  ago. 

In  the  course  of  forty-eight  days,  one  Hilferding,  to 
whom  we  owe  the  most  valuable  discoveries  in  this  line, 
came  across  seventy  peasant  singers,  and  wrote  down 
more-  than  three  hundred  songs.  This  was  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Olonets,  far  to  the  north  of  Russia,  while  in  the 
province  of  Kiev,  in  the  land  of  their  birth,  not  one  has 
been  gathered.  Why  this  migration  of  national  poetry, 
why  this  flight  of  the  popular  songs  into  the  inacces- 
sible forests.!*  Perhaps  the  clergy  looked  with  an 
unfavourable  eye  on  what  they  considered  a  profane 
amusement;  perhaps,  when  those  political  struggles 
began  which  tormented  Kiev  and  Moscow,  they  were 
passed  over  and  entrusted  to  those  quiet  regions  of  the 
north;  perhaps  they  themselves  had  the  presentiment 
that  it  would  be  better  to  fly  and  to  hide  in  the  deep 
forests,  before  they  should  be  pursued  and  dispersed  by 
the  piercing  whistle  of  civilization  at  whose  approach  so 
many  songs  have  died  away,  so  many  dreams  have 
vanished.* 

»  On  the  Roisiw  folk-lore:  W.  R.  S.  Ralston.  -RnjMn  foDt-Uk*." 
London,  1873.    "Song»  of  the  Rus»i*n  People."    London,  187X     Mi» 

B 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


50 

Such  was  the  field  on  which  popular  creative  forces 
exercised  themselves,  and  such  were  the  plants  this 
field  produced.  Of  course  we  can  only  touch  on  this 
subject  in  such  a  concise  and  rapid  sketch. 

We  must  now  say  a  word  on  the  only  specimen  of 
individual  poetical  creation  we  possess  of  the  ante-Mon- 
golian period,  not  because  it  is  the  only  remaining  one, 
but  because  it  is  unique  in  every  way  and  because  so 
powerful  is  its  poetical  force  as  to  make  it  to-day  and 
forever  one  of  the  finest  jewels  of  our  literature. 

"The  Word  about  Igor's  Fights,"  ^  relates  the  story 
of  an  unsuccessful  expedition  of  Prince  Igor's,  in  1185, 
against  the  Polovtsy,  one  of  the  nomadic  tribes,  his 
march,  his  defeat,  the  lament  of  his  wife  Yarosla.vna, 
who  waits  for  him  on  the  city  walls  of  Poutivl,  his  flight, 
and  his  return.  The  wonderful  impression  produced 
by  this  simple  story  lies  in  a  poetical  breath  of  an 
almost  savage  impetuosity,  unbridled,  irresistible,  which 
imbues  with  the  animating  force  of  its  mythological 
imagination  anything  it  touches :  the  hours  of  the  day, 
the  twilight,  the  wind,  the  desert,  the  river,  the  grass,  — 
all  is  animated  and  vibrates  and  lives  up  to  a  harmony 
of   sympathy  with  man.      New   romanticism  with   its 

Isabel  F.  Hapgood,  "  The  Epic  Songs  of  Russia."  New  York,  1886.  Ram- 
baud,  "La  Russie  Epique."  Paris,  1876.  Tiander,  « Russische  Volks- 
Epopeen."  St.  Petersburg,  1894.  Bodenstedt,  "  Die  poetische  Ukraine." 
1845.  W.  Wollner,  "  Untersuchungen  uber  die  Volksepic  der  Grossms- 
sen."  Leipzig,  1879.  Valuable  information  on  Slavonic  philology,  poetry, 
history,  etc.,  in  Prof.  Jagic's  periodical,  "  Archiv  fur  slavische  Philologie." 
Vienna. 

1  Miss  Hapgood  in  her  introduction  to  the  "  Epic  Songs  of  Russia," 
translates :  "  Word  of  Igor's  Troop."  The  author  commits  the  very  com- 
mon error  of  taking  the  word  "  polk "  in  its  present  significance,  "  regi- 
ment," whereas  it  formerly  meant  "  expedition."  We  thought  this  latter 
a  rather  modem  expression  and  substituted  for  it  "  fights." 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  51 

attempts  at  animating  Nature  by  awakening  the  shallow 
phantoms  of  ancient  legends  has  never  succeeded  in 
imposing  upon,  us  as  powerfully  the  illusion  of  Nature's 
participation  in  human  life,  as  this  poem,  where  flowers 
in  the  field  fade  for  sorrow.  I  pick  out  at  random 
these  few  lines  describing  the  beginning  of  a  battle :  — 

Lo! 

Stribog's  *  children  take  their  flight : 
Blowing  winds,  —  they  carry  arrows, 
Send  them  straight  on  Igor's  army.  ... 
Muddy  yellow  grow  the  rivers. 
Moans  the  field  and  dust  arises, 
And  already  through  the  dust 
You  may  see  the  flapping  banners  I 

Wonderful  are  the  descriptions  of  the  prairies,*  the 
nomadic  camp,  the  noise  of  the  grass  when  the  tents 
are  moved,  the  creaking  of  the  wheels  like  the  noise 
of  swans*  wings :  nothing  is  left  unobserved,  and  every- 
thing is  vivified  by  the  poet's  imagination.  This  poem 
was  discovered  in  1795;  the  original,  a  manuscript  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  perished  in  the  great  fire  of 
Moscow  at  the  time  of  Napoleon's  invasion  in  1812;* 
the  author  is  unknown,  but  undoubtedly  contemporary 
with  the  events  described.  Unfortunately  it  stands 
alone ;  all  critics  agree  that  it  must  be  considered  as  a 
fragment  of  a  whole  cycle  of  military  epopees  which 
must  have  flourished  in  the  immediate  surrounding  of 
the  Prince.*     We  have  finished  with  the  poetical  pro- 

»  A  mythological  divinity,  father  of  the  winds  (the  Greek  /Coins). 

*  "  Seven  and  a  half  centurie*  before  Gogol  had  dashed  off  bb  pictwes 
of  South  Russian  steppes,  the  author  of  the  'Word  about  Igor's  Fights* 
already  made  us  feel  their  beauty."     S.  Shevyrioff,  op.  ciL 

»  A  Uanscript  was  found  among  the  papers  of  Catherine  the  GresL 

*  French  translations  (more  or  less  complete  and  satisfactory):  Ekb> 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


52 

auctions  of  the  time;  the  last  poem  brings  us  back  to 

history. 

The  political  power  in  those  days  was  represented  by 
two  elements:  the  so-called  "veche,"  the  people's  as- 
sembly,  and   the    prince.      Their   respective   situation 
was  not  firmly  established  and   much   depended  upon 
the  personal  character  of  the  prmce:  if  the  latter  was 
strong,  he  commanded  the  veche;  if  he  was  weak,  he 
was  controlled  and  often  deprived  of  power  and  expelled. 
The  assembly  had  no  regular  organization ;  people  were 
called  together  by  the  ringing  of  the  church  bell;  they 
gathered  on  the  public  place,  they  decided  upon  ques- 
tions of  war  and  peace ;   no  regular  proceedmgs  were 
held,  and  discussion  often  ended  with  fisticuffs.     Yet  in 
some  towns,  namely  in  Novgorod  and  Pskoff,  the  veche 
had    grown   to   a   quite   independent    political    power. 
Under  the  influence  of   the  Tartar  yoke  it  gradually 
lost  its  significance  and  died  away  with  the  increasing 
absorption  of  the  minor  princedoms  by  Moscow. 

The  Russian  prince  of  the  ante-Mongolian  period  is  a 
type  which  does  not  repeat  itself  in  posterior  history. 
Whether  Normans  or  not,  they  preserve  till  the  thirteenth 
century  that  same  spirit  of  romantic  adventurousness 
which  animates  the  companions  of  William  the  Con- 
queror or  Robert  Guiscard,  that  same  thirst  for  military 
glory  which  induces  those  children  of  the  north  to  insert 
among  the  pages  of  history  that  fairy  tale  which  is  the 
Norman   Kingdom   of   Sicily.     The   condition   of   the 

hotf,  ••  Histoire  de  la  langue  et  de  la  litterature  des  slaves."  Paris,  1839. 
Mickievicz,  "  Les  Slaves."  Paris,  1849.  Rambaud,  "  La  Russie  Epique." 
Paris,  1876.  Barghon,  Fort  Rion.  Paris,  1 876.  German  translation  with 
Slavonic  text,  glossary,  and  commentaries,  by  Dr.  August  Boltz.  Berlin, 
1854. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  53 

country,  alas,  favoured  their  belligerency  only  too  much. 
Towards  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century  the  de- 
scendants of  Rurik  grew  to  a  numerous  family ;  each 
member  of  this  family  had  his  own  apanagcd  principal- 
ity, but  they  were  seldom  satisfied  and  it  was  a  hard 
task  for  the  Grand  Duke  of  Kiev  to  hold  them  in  good 
order.  The  situation  became  complicated  chiefly  in 
consequence  of  the  strange  order  of  succession  to 
the  grand-ducal  throne  of  Kiev.  It  did  not  pass  to 
the  eldest  son,  but  to  the  eldest  member  of  the  whole 
family  —  generally  to  the  late  Grand  Duke's  brother,  and 
only  after  all  the  brothers  had  ruled  came  the  turn  of  the 
eldest  son.  This  order  of  succession,  by  which  uncles 
had  precedence  over  nephews  and  which  became  a 
source  of  continuous  discord,  is  the  inner  spring  which 
imparts  to  this  so-called  "period  of  apanages  "  its  turbu- 
lent activity.^ 

The  only  good  side  of  this  state  of  things  from  the 
political  point  of  view  was  that  this  centripetal  tendency 
of  the  princes  towards  Kiev,  entering  the  people's  con- 
sciousness, became  one  of  the  agents  of  the  idea  of 
national  unity.  In  those  days  only  few  grand  dukes 
succeeded,  by  imposing  their  authority  upon  the  mem- 
bers of  their  family,  in  securing  for  the  country  periods 
of  relative  tranquillity.  Among  these  were  Yaroslav  the 
Wise,  and  Vladimir  Monomah. 

With  the  name  of  Yaroslav  stands  connected  the 
name  of  the  "  Russian  law,"  the  first  attempt  of  Rus- 
sian juridical  codification.     In  its  general  spirit  and  very 

*  The  numerous  hypotheses  by  which  the  "  system  of  apsiuiges  "  hu 
been  explained  are  summed  up  by  W.  R.  S.  Ralston :  "  Early  Russian 
History."  On  the  same  epoch :  Evers,  "  Studien  zor  grOndlicbeB  Kcnnt- 
niss  der  Vorzeit  RussUnd's."     Dorpat,  18^ 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


often  in  its  details  the  "Russian  law"  presents  a  re- 
markable accord  with  the  early  legislation  of  other 
European  countries,  especially  with  the  Frank  and 
Anglo-Saxon  laws.  It  would  take  us  too  long  to  enter 
into  all  the  particulars  of  this  interesting  document,  yet 
we  must  underline  on  our  way  its  chief  features. 

.'Capital  seems  to  be  the  most  privileged  person  in 
this  legislation."     So  says  one  of  our  historians,    and 
indeed  its  commercial,  matter-of-fact  character  is  wha 
strikes   us   most.      Pecuniary   fine   is  the   punishment 
even  in   cases   of   murder  (it   is   called   "vira,   -the 
"Wehrgeld"  of  the  Germans),  and   pecuniary  or  ma- 
terial loss  is  what  measures  the  degree  of  guilt      Civil 
law  and  criminal  law  are  scarcely  differentiated,  yet  a 
faint  indication  of  the  difference  can  be  traced  in  those 
few  cases  where  the  crime  is  punished  with  a  double 
fine, -one  part  going  to  the  sufferer  in  compensation 
for  his  loss,  the  other  to  the  prince  as  satisfaction  for 
the  offence  against  abstract  morality.      The  so-called 
"blood  vengeance  "  in  virtue  of  which  the  assassm  may 
be  killed  by  the  relations  of  his  victim  is  legalized  by 
the  code,  just  as  in  the  ancient  Swedish  law.     It  was 
however,  abolished  under  Yaroslav's  children.     Capital 
punishment   as   an   impersonal   agent  of   justice   does 
not  exist.     Three  social  classes  distinctly  appear  from 
this  legislation.     Those  who  are  in  the  immediate  sur- 
rounding  of  the  prince  and  compose  the  "  droujma, 
—  his  soldiers'  company  of  Varegue  extraction.     Then 
comes  the  class  of  ordinary  free  men.  mainly  hereditary 
farmers,  on  the  prince's  land,  which   returns  to   the 
prince  if   male  heirs  should  be  wanting;   their  life  is 

1  Kluchevsky.    Course  of  lectures  on  Russian  History,  dcUvcred  at  the 
Moscow  University  in  1882-1883. 


AND   RUSSIAN    LITERATURE  55 

estimated  at  half  as  much  as  the  life  of  the  farmer. 
Lastly  the  serfs  form  a  class  which  has  neither  property 
nor  rights ;  ^  the  murder  of  a  serf  and  the  theft  of  a 
beaver  are  punished  with  an  equal  fine.  VVom^n  is 
always  taxed  half  as  much  as  man,  but  a  woman's  fin- 
ger or  nose  is  taxed  the  same  as  a  man's.  The  Russian 
law  in  this  case  does  not  enter  into  such  minute  details 
as  the  German,  which  has  a  different  tariff  for  every 
finger  in  proportion  to  its  importance. 

Property  seems  to  have  had  a  stronger  guarantee 
than  life :  rules  of  pecuniary  transactions,  commercial 
■  fellowships,  rights  and  order  of  succession,  are  firmly 
established.^  The  theft  of  a  horse  is  punished  with  the 
loss  of  all  rights,  property,  and  liberty  (consider  that 
ancient  Sa.xon  legislation  inflicted  capital  punishment  for 
the  same  crime).  An  interesting  feature  is  the  respect 
for  foreigners:  whereas  two  witnesses  are  sufficient  to 
establish  the  guiltiness  of  a  native,  no  less  than  seven 
are  required  when  it  is  a  foreigner  or  a  Varegue.  The 
privileged  position  accorded  to  the  Vnregue  reminds  one 
of  the  Salic  law  where  the  life  of  the  Frank  was  taxed 
the  double  of  the  Gallo-Roman's  life.'  From  this  short 
glimpse  you  may  see  that  the  moral  educatory  power  of 
the  code  is  not  of  great  importance ;  it  certainly  had  its 
practical  influence  on  the  people's  customs,  but  it  did  not 
aim  at  the  very  root  of  criminal  tendencies;  it  did  not 

'  These  slaves,  who  were  supplied  by  prisoners  of  w»r  or  insolvent  debl- 
on,  and  were  comparatively  few  in  number,  must  not  be  confounded  with 
the  later  serfs,  —  peasants  who  were  bound  to  the  soil  at  the  end  of  tbt 
sixteenth  centur>'  and  emancipated  in  1861.     (See  Lecture  VIII.) 

*  J.  Hube, "  GeschicbUiche  DarstcUung  der  Ejrbfolgerechte  dcr  SUtres." 
Poscn,  1836. 

•  The  comparisons  with  the  Germanic  and  other  Uws  are  based  on  the 
"  Appendix  "  to  VoL  I  of  Karamsin's  "  History  of  the  RosMan  SUU." 


56  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

say  :  "  Don't  do  so  and  so,  because  it  is  wrong,"  but,  as 
the  above-quoted  writer  remarks,  "It  seemed  to  say: 
♦  Do  whatever  you  like,  but  here  is  the  tarifiE.'  "  ^ 

Yaroslav's  grandson,  Vladimir  Monomah,  is  the  other 
prince  of  this  epoch  to  whom  we  owe  special  attention. 
He  is  the  typical  prince,  the  favourite,  the  beloved  one, 
but,  better  than  from  anything  we  might  say,  his  figure 
will    appear    from   that   famous   document    known    as 
"  Monomah's  will."     In  a  short  instruction  the  vener- 
able father  gives  to  his  children  precepts  of  morality 
and  piety,  illustrating  them  with  autobiographical  exam- 
ples.    So  dignified  is  the  style,  so  sincere  the  profound 
conviction  in  the  beneficence  of  his  advice,  so  humble 
the  whole  spirit,  that  these  autobiographical  strokes  do 
not  produce  the  slightest  impression  of  boastf ulness ; 
whatever   exploit   he   may   relate,  whether   his   eighty 
campaigns   against    the    Polovtsy,    whether   the   great 
dangers  he  had  run  while  hunting,  he  always  remains 
the  same  noble  character,  recommending  to  his  children 
never  to  forget  to  say  their  prayers ;  "  even  when  you 
ride  and  are  not  speaking  to  anybody,  instead  of  think- 
ing rubbish,  at  least  repeat  these  simple  words :  '  God 
be  merciful  unto  me,'  —  this  is  the  best  of  all  prayers." 
"  Don't  think,  my  children,"  says  he,  "  or  anyone  else, 
who  may  read  these  lines,  that  I  make  a  show  of  my 
own  fearlessness,  I  simply  praise  the  merciful  Lord  for 
having  preserved  me  during  so  many  years.  .  .  .     The 
only  thing  I  wish  is  that,  after  having  read  this  epistle, 
you  should  perform  all  manner  of  good  deeds,  praising 
God  and  his  Saints." 

Poor  people,  widows,  children,  are  objects  of  his  solici- 

*  On  Russian  ancient  domestic  life:  Ewers,  "Das  sLlteste  Recht  der 
Russen."     Dorpat,  1826. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITER.\TURE  57 

tude.  Hospitality  and  sociability  are  recommended  as 
virtues :  **  Never  let  anyone  pass,  without  giving  him  a 
greeting,  but  have  a  good  word  for  every  man.  .  .  . 
Honour  the  aged  as  a  father,  honour  the  young  as  a 
brother."  He  never  travelled  without  a  copy  of 
David's  Psalms,  his  favourite  reading ;  he  was  one  of 
the  most  learned  men  of  his  time,  though  second  to  his 
father  Vsevolod,  of  whom  he  says,  that  without  having 
been  abroad  he  spoke  five  languages.  '•  Let  the  sun- 
rise never  find  you  in  bed,"  he  says  to  his  children,  and 
he  himself  sets  the  example.  All  his  time,  all  his 
thought  were  given  to  his  country,  and  the  chronicles 
keep  a  warm  remembrance  of  him  who  "expended  so 
much  sweat  for  the  sake  of  the  Russian  land." 

Vladimir  Monomah  was  the  last  on  the  throne  of 
Kiev  who  exercised  a  sufficient  authority  to  command 
respect  in  the  minor  princes.  After  his  death  in  1125, 
intestine  quarrels  break  out  and  the  material  unity  of 
the  country  which  was  only  just  realizing  the  idea  of  its 
moral  unity  is  so  weakened,  that  when  in  1224  the 
Tartar  appears  on  the  horizon,  the  princes  have  no 
energy  for  community  of  action  ;  they  are  defeated  one 
by  one,  and  in  the  first  part  of  the  thirteenth  century 
the  great  Mongolian  invasion  plunges  the  country  into 
the  deep  night  of  a  barbaric  tyranny. 

Such  was  the  inner  development  of  the  country 
during  the  so-called  ante-Mongolian  period.  From  what 
has  been  said  we  may  form  an  idea  of  its  situation 
with  regard  to  other  European  countries.  Though 
quite  a  young  state,  Russia  enters  into  commercial 
and  diplomatic  intercourse  with  her  neighbours,  and 
intermarriages  with  other  reigning  houses  arc  main- 
tained throughout  the  whole  period.     In  911  a  treaty 


58  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

is    concluded  with   Byzantium,   sanctioned   by   Prince 
Ole^i  and   the  Emperor  Alexander.     You  remember 
Princess  Olga's  baptism  at  Constantinople;   Emperor 
Constantine  Porphyrogenetus  in  his  book  on  the  cere- 
monies  of   the   Byzantine   court  gives  interestmg  ac- 
counts of  the  festivities  in  her  honour.^    A  few  years 
later   she   sends   envoys  to  the   German    King   (later 
Emperor)  Otto  the  Great.     Vladimir  marries  the  Greek 
princess    Anna    and    through    her    sister    Theophano 
becomes   the    brother-in-law   of    Otto    II.      Yaroslav's 
eldest  daughter  Elisabeth  marries  the  Norwegian  Kmg 
Harold,  her   sister  Anna  becomes   Queen  of   France 
by  marrying  Henry  I,^   Anastasia  the  youngest  sister 
marries  Andrew  I  of  Hungaria.     Vladimir  Monomah's 
mother  was  the  daughter  of  the  Byzantine  Emperor  Con- 
stantine Monomachus,  and  Vladimir  himself  was  mar- 
ried to  the  daughter  of  the  unfortunate  King  Harold, 
who  perished  at  Hastings.*     All  this  shows   how,  in 
spite  of   the  continuous  incursions  of   nomadic  tribes 
of   Asia,  the  country  kept  up  an  uninterrupted  inter- 
course with  Western  Europe.     If  we  may  say  so,  the 
doors  of  the  country  stood  open  during  all  that  time. 

1  Oleg,  uncle  of  Igor  Rurik's  son,  ruled  during  his  minority. 
2"De  ceremoniis  auloe  Byzantinse.",  Lib.  ii,  cap.  15,  ed.  Bonn. 
Among  these  ceremonies,  strange  to  say,  the  Emperor  does  not  mention 
the  ceremony  of  Olga's  baptism.  We  have  to  infer  therefore  either  that 
she  was  twice  to  Constantinople  or  that  she  was  baptized  in  some  other 
place  (Goloubinsky,  op.  cit). 

»  A  fac-simile  of  her  signature  in  Slavonic  character  under  a  certificate 
of  the  alibey  of  Saint-Crepin  de  Soisson,  dated  1063,  is  reproduced  in  "  L* 
Russie."     Paris,  1 89 1,  p.  474. 

*  On  the  connections  of  Russian  legends,  folk-lore,  and  early  history 
with  Norway,  Denmark,  and  other  northern  countries :  "  Antiquites  Russea, 
ed.  par  la  Societe  Royale  des  antiquites  du  nord."  2  vols.  Copenhagen, 
1850-1852. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITER.\TURE  59 

But  there  comes  the  great  incursion  from  the  desert, 
the  whole  country  is  turned  on  her  axis  and  all  at  once 
she  faces  Asia  instead  of  Europe.  She  remains  so  for 
over  two  hundred  years,  and  when  she  recovers  and 
looks  round  her,  a  wall  has  arisen  between  her  and 
Europe.  It  required  another  two  hundred  years  for 
this  wall  to  be  shattered  and  thrown  down. 

We  have  finished  with  the  Kiev  period  of  the  Russian 
histor}'.  Out  of  the  barbaric  gloom  "golden-headed 
Moscow  "  dawns. 


LECTURE   III 

(1224-1613) 

The  Tartar  yoke.  Europe  and  Asia  —  secular  struggle.  The 
rise  and  growth  of  Moscow.  The  policy  of  the  first  Moscovian 
princes  and  the  "  collecting  of  the  Russian  land,"  Inner  cur- 
rents of  social  classes. 

John  III  —  first  sovereign  of  unified  Russia*  Diplomatic 
and  commercial  intercourse  with  Europe. 

John  IV  the  Terrible  — first  Tsar  of  Russia.  A  character- 
istic. Art  in  history  and  history  in  art.  Intellectual  culture 
of  the  time.     A  parallel. 


/. 

^ , 
^^-.y 


LECTURE   III 

(1224-1613) 

Moskva  !  How  much  in  that  ont  sound 
Is  rooted  for  a  Russian  heart! 
How  many  echoes  it  contains !  .  . 

—  POUSHKIN. 

A  BREATH  of  terror  seems  to  run  through 
those  pages  of  our  chronicles  which  relate  the 
events  from  1224  to  1240.  In  the  solitude  of 
his  cell  the  old  monk,  who  has  retired  from  the  world, 
feels  only  too  intensely  the  synthetic  significance  of 
those  single  facts  which  he  fixes  on  the  venerable  parch> 
mcnts.  The  atrocities  of  the  invasion,  the  massacres, 
the  fires  which  strike  others  in  their  individual  feelings 
of  family  and  home,  wound  the  lonely  and  homeless  her- 
mit in  his  love  for  his  fatherland ;  and  the  tears  of  the 
whole  country  call  upon  God  from  those  pages  where 
the  disasters  of  the  barbaric  invasion  appear  in  the  ter- 
rific simplicity  of  the  artless  narration. 

After  a  series  of  incursions  in  the  southeastern  part 
of  the  country  the  Tartar  hordes  at  last  reach  the 
lower  bank  of  the  Dnieper  and  pitch  their  camp  oppo- 
site Kiev.  "  The  creaking  of  the  cars,  the  bellowing  of 
the  oxen,  and  the  roaring  of  the  camels  was  such,"  says 
the  chronicler,  "  that  the  citizens  could  not  hear  each 
other's  voices."  A  desperate  resistance  and  never- 
ceasing  prayer  in  all  churches  and   convents  did   not 

63 


64  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


save  the  town :  when  the  Tartar  retired  and  the  last 
clouds  of  dust  had  vanished,  swallowed  up  by  the 
desert  horizon,  Kiev  lay  in  ashes.  "  The  sun  perished 
all  over  the  country,"  exclaims  the  chronicler,  "  the  living 
were  envying  the  dead."  ^  But  the  chronicler  did  not 
know  that  the  invasion  whose  furious  waves,  rolling 
over  the  country,  were  shattering  against  the  walls  of 
his  cell,  was  itself  the  last  wave  of  that  moving  ocean 
known  as  the  great  migration  of  nations ;  and  another 
thing  the  chronicler  could  not  know  is  that  this  inva- 
sion, which  was  to  open  a  period  of  two  centuries  of 
oppression  for  his  fatherland,  was  only  one  of  the  acts 
in  the  secular  struggle  of  two  continents. 

In  mythological  times  the  Greeks  go  to  Troy,  Europe 
marches  against  Asia  to  vindicate  the  honour  of  a 
European  woman,  which,  by  the  way,  according  to 
Herodotus,^  the  P^sians  thought  a  very  foolish  idea. 
In  antiquity  the  Persians  invade  Greece ;  but  Europe 
takes  a  glorious  revenge  when  Alexander  the  Great, 
traversing  Asia  Minor  and  Persia,  penetrates  as  far  as 
the  sacred  banks  of  the  rivers  of  India.  In  the  times 
of  the  Christian  era,  from  the  depths  of  her  deserts 
Asia  pours  out  the  hordes  of  her  nomadic  tribes.  The 
Huns  are  thrown  back  by  the  Franks,  the  Avars  by  the 
Germans ;  but  from  the  other  end,  through  Africa,  Asia 
infiltrates  again,  and  the  Moors  settle  in  the  Pyrenean 
peninsula.  The  crusades  are  a  new  challenge  of  Eu- 
rope's, and  while  the  nations  of  the  west  in  useless  efforts 
shed  their  blood  on  the  soil  of  Palestine,  the  eastern 
plains  become  the  prey  of  Asiatic  incursions.     A  young 

»  On  the  Tartar :  D'Ohsson,  "  Histoire  des  Mongols."  4  vols.  Am- 
sterdam, 1834-1835.  Von  Hanuner,  "Geschichte  der  goldenen  Horde." 
Pesth,  1840.  *  I  4. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  65 

nation  whose  life  had  just  begun,  resists  as  long  as  it 
can,  but  when  from  the  very  centre  of  Asia,  —  from 
the  sandy  deserts  of  Mongolia,  beyond  which  the  great 
Celestial  Empire  lies  in  its  millennial  lethargy,  —  the 
nomadic  empire  of  Chingis-Khan  rises  and  moves  to 
conquest,  young  Russia  is  dismembered  and  succumbs. 
Thus  Europe  is  held  by  Asia  on  both  extremities.  Rely- 
ing upon  these  two  flanks  the  adverse  continent  directs 
the  attack  towards  the  centre ;  through  Asia  Minor  the 
Ottoman  Empire  advances  against  Constantinople.  Ma- 
homet II  crosses  the  Bosphorus,  effeminate  and  rotten 
Byzantium  falls,  Islam  invades  the  sanctuary  of  Greek 
Christianity,  and  on  the  cupola  of  St.  Sophia  the  cross 
is  supplanted  by  the  crescent.  But  as  if  the  effort  of 
the  centre  had  exhausted  the  body,  the  two  extremities 
simultaneously  tremble  and  yield;  the  Moors  are  expelled 
from  Spain  by  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  and  Russia  is 
delivered  from  the  Tartar  by  John  III  of  Moscow. 
Once  more,  according  to  the  fine  expression  of  our  great 
historian  Solovieff,  *'  Asiatic  quantity  was  overcome  by 
European  quality." 

The  insignificant  town  of  Moscow  is  mentioned  for 
the  first  time  in  the  annals  under  the  date  of  1 147.  Its 
rapid  growth  has  always  been  a  riddle  to  people.  '*  Who 
ever  would  have  thought  or  surmised,"  says  an  old 
popular  song,  "  that  Moscow  was  to  become  a  kingdom, 
who  ever  would  have  guessed  that  Moscow  would  have 
to  count  for  a  state  ? "  It  was  the  apanage  of  one  of 
the  younger  princely  branches,  but  the  Moscovitc  princes 
managed  so  well  that  they  soon  became  the  eldest  among 
the  elder  ones.  The  immediate  result  of  the  destruction 
of  Kiev  in  1240  was  the  gradual  removal  of  national  life 
from  the  desolate  southwest  to  the  woody  and  in  those 


66  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

times  less  accessible  northeast.  The  grand-ducal  throne 
was  transferred  to  Souzdal,  then  to  Vladimir,  and  instead 
of  the  western  Dnieper  the  eastern  Volga  becomes  the 
main  artery  of  the  country.  Thanks  to  this  removal 
Moscow  became  the  ethnographical  centre  of  the  coun- 
try, —  it  wanted  but  the  effort  of  a  few  intelligent  rulers 
to  become  the  political  centre. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Mongolian  yoke  the  depend- 
ence of  the  princes  on  the  Tartar  khans  was  onerous  and 
humiliating.  No  one  could  take  possession  of  the  grand- 
ducal  throne  unless  he  was  authorized  by  a  khan's  char- 
ter; they  were  forced  at  certain  intervals  to  make  their 
appearance  in  the  Tartars'  headquarters  beyond  the  Volga 
(the  so-called  "Golden  Horde  ")to  pay  their  respects  and 
taxes;  often  they  were  subjected  to  certain  ceremonies 
of  oriental  etiquette  from  which  their  pride  revolted,  but 
they  had  to  put  up  with  everything,  for  the  slightest 
disobedience  was  punished  by  an  incursion  on  their 
domains.  With  austere  resignation  they  endured  all ;  and 
only  when  Prince  Michael  of  Chernigov  was  summoned 
to  abjure  the  Christian  faith,  compulsion  proved  power- 
less and  he  died  the  death  of  a  martyr. 

But,  by  and  by,  revolt  on  one  side  and  despotism  on 
the  other  relaxed,  and  the  forced  terms  between  the 
princes  and  the  khans  gradually  improved.  In  the 
annals  of  the  fourteenth  century  we  already  read :  prince 
so-and-so  was  received  by  the  khan  "with  honour,"  re- 
turned home  "with  honour."  This  "honour,"  which 
generally  was  obtained  at  the  cost  of  precious  gifts  to 
the  khan,  his  wives,  and  the  whole  Tartar  court,  becomes 
the  privilege  of  the  Moscovite  princes ;  care  and  circum- 
spection, great  economy,  soon  make  them  the  most 
powerful  among  the  princes  ;  their  pecuniary  resources 


AND  RUSSUN   LITERATURE  67 

secure  them  the  preponderance  at  the  Tartar  court,  a  wise 
and  conciliating  policy  renders  them  somewhat  like  con- 
fidants of  the  khans  —  favourites  from  among  enemies ; 
even  marriages  are  concluded  with  Tartar  princesses, 
who  of  course  embrace  the  Christian  faith.  As  a  result,  in 
1328  Prince  John  (called  Kaliti  or  "the  purse"X  though 
having  no  genealogical  right  of  precedence,  is  recog- 
nized by  the  khan  as  Grand  Duke  of  Russia.  He  feels 
so  sure  of  himself  that  he  does  not  even  move  to  the  chief 
town,  Vladimir;  the  Metropolitan  Peter  at  his  invitation 
settles  in  Moscow,  and  hence  as  the  residence  of  the 
grand-ducal  and  the  metropolitan  thrones,  this  town 
becomes  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  centre  of  the 
country. 

From  this  time  the  authority  of  the  Prince  of  Mos- 
cow grows  at  the  expense  of  the  independence  of  the 
other  princes.  The  son  of  John  I,  Simeon,  is  sumamed 
'•  the  Proud,"  but  this  surname  pictures  far  more  the  feel- 
ings of  the  minor  princes  than  the  character  of  him  who 
was  but  sober  and  severe  in  his  justice.  *'  The  virtues  of 
the  first  Grand  Dukes  of  Moscow,"  says  one  of  our  histo- 
rians,^ **  were  less  valorous  than  lucrative."  And  yet  these 
virtues  which  were  a  family  feature  became  the  basis  of  a 
political  system,  and  while  in  other  princedoms  repeated 
discords  mark  every  change  of  reign,  in  Moscow  a  moral 
transmission  from  father  to  son  makes  of  every  successor 
a  sort  of  testamentary  executor  of  a  well-premeditated 
plan.  The  plan  consisted  (i)  in  a  territorial  extension 
at  the  cost  of  the  other  princes,  with  an  enforced  spirit 
of  centralization  infused  into  the  newly  incorporated  do- 
mains, and  (2)  an  underhand  preparation  of  military 
forces  in  view  of  the  great  blow  to  be  struck  against  the 

^  KlocbcTsky,  "  Coone  of  Romuui  Hntocy." 


68  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 


Tartar  when  the  hour  should  come.  And  they  all  worked 
in  the  expectation  of  this  hour,  no  one  working  for 
himself,  but  each  for  the  sake  of  that  unknown  successor 
under  whose  reign  it  would  please  Providence  that  the 
hour  should  come. 

And  the  hour  came:  in  1380,  the  name  of  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Moscow  was  Dimitry,  the  name  of  the  Tartar 
khan,  Mamay;  Koulikovo  was  the  name  of  the  field 
where  they  met  on  the  8th  of  Ssptember. 

A  beam  of  sunshine  seems  to  pierce  the  heavy  clouds 
which  were  overhanging  the  country.     Few  moments 
in  history  can  be  compared  to  the  solemnity  of  the 
departure  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Moscow  at  the  head  of 
the  first  great  Russian  army,  marching  against  the  one 
great  enemy  of  the  country.   The  old  chronicler,  the  faith- 
ful recorder  of  national  distress  and  national  joy,  pictures 
with  radiant  colours  of  hopeful  anticipation  the  exodus  of 
this  army.     St.  Serge,  the  revered  prior  of  the  Trinity 
Convent  near  Moscow,  blesses  the  soldiers  on  their  way 
and  appoints  two  monks,  Oslab  and  Heresvet,  to  accom- 
pany the  Grand  Duke  to  the  battle.     Two  scenes  emerge 
from  the  past,  when  the  name  of  Koulikovo  is  recalled  to 
our  memory.     We  see,  in  the  misty  freshness  of  a  Sep- 
tember morning,  amidst  his  soldiers,  who  have  just  been 
ranged  for  the  battle.  Prince  Dimitry  kneeling  on  the 
ground  and  praying  under  his  grand-ducal  banner,  the 
black  banner  with  the  golden  picture  of  the  Saviour ;  and 
we  see,  in  the  golden  sunset  of  a  September  evening, 
Prince  Dimitry  lying  under  a  tree,  recovering  from  a  blow 
received  in  the  battle  and  asking  who  were  the  winners. 
Already  the  trumpets  had  proclaimed  the  Russian  victory. 
With  Dimitry  the  preparatory  period  of  Russia's  lib- 
eration is  finished;  his  successors  inaugurate  a  policy 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  69 

of  frank  hostility  against  Mamay's  successors.  A  series 
of  intelligent  rulers,  working  always  on  the  ground  en- 
riched already  by  the  successful  work  of  their  predeces- 
sors, consolidate  the  power  of  Moscow  and  relax  the 
bonds  of  the  Mongolian  dependence.  In  1480  John  III 
effects  the  complete  emancipation.  The  Tartar  King- 
dom is  dismembered ;  its  scattered  members  live  on  for 
a  time;  the  kingdoms  of  Kasan  and  Astrakhan  are 
conquered  by  John  the  Terrible  eighty  years  later,  the 
Tartars  of  the  Crimea  preserve  their  independence  till 
as  late  as  the  reign  of  Catherine  the  Great 

At  the  accession  of  John  III  in  1462  the  political 
pre-eminence  of  Moscow  stands  established.  This 
sovereign  closes  the  old  period  of  the  Moscovian 
Grand  Duchy  and  opens  the  new  period  of  the  Mosco- 
vian Kingdom.  The  principle  of  federative  equality 
in  the  relations  between  Moscow  and  the  other  prince- 
doms, which  had  been  dying  away  during  the  preceding 
century,  is  definitively  supplanted  by  the  monarchical 
principle.  Let  us  examine  the  inner  currents  by  which 
this  change  has  been  brought  about.  It  will  at  the 
same  time  throw  a  retrospective  light  on  the  preceding 
period  and  mark  the  conditions  which  determine  the 
direction  of  further  historical  development. 

The  extension  of  the  Princedom  of  Moscow  was  a 
fact  of  incalculable  historical  importance  not  because 
of  the  centrifugal  tendency  it  imparted  to  the  territorial 
expansion,  but  because  of  the  centripetal  direction  it 
gave  to  the  consciousness  of  all  social  classes,  beginning 
with  the  princes  themselves  at  whoSe  cost  the  Moscovian 
territory  grew.  At  first  the  incorporation  of  one  apa- 
nage after  another  by  the  Grand  Duke  of  Moscow  had 
a  character  of  violence,  but  soon  it  assumed  a  more  or 


70  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

less  normal  character.  Many  princes  of  themselves 
abdicated  their  rights  and  passed  their  domains  over 
to  their  elder  comrade;  others,  who  had  no  children, 
made  wills  in  favour  of  Moscow ;  later  this  was  erected 
into  a  rule,  and  even  when  there  was  no  will,  the  apa- 
nage of  a  childless  prince  was  annexed,  and  similarly  the 
apanage  which  remained  after  the  death  of  a  dowager 
princess  ;  marriages  were  another  means  of  extension. 

With  what  rapidity  the  Princedom  grew  may  be  seen 
from  the  fact  that  at  John  Ill's  accession  the  territory  of 
Moscow  was  fifteen  thousand  square  miles,  while  under 
this  prince  and  his  son  Basil,  i.e.  in  the  course  of  sixty 
years,  it  annexed  forty  thousand  square  miles  of  terri- 
tory. The  consequences  of  this  growth  of  what  the 
chronicles  call  "  the  collecting  of  the  Russian  land  " 
were  of  greater  importance  than  we  might  expect  from 
a  simple  territorial  extension.  The  first  consequence 
was  of  a  social  character.  We  have  just  said  that  the 
centripetal  tendency  invaded  all  classes.  The  minor 
princes,  deprived  of  their  domains,  all  come  to  Moscow 
and  settle  round  the  Kremlin ;  they  become  the  stock 
of  the  higher  aristocracy  and  by  a  sort  of  compen- 
sation for  their  fresh  wounds  they  are  invested  with 
the  pre-eminent  official  functions.  They  command  the 
army,  they  rule  the  different  provinces.  But  having 
abdicated  their  territorial  rights,  they  do  not  forget 
their  dynastic  proximity  to  the  ruling  grand  duke :  it  is 
not  easy  to  keep  all  these  cousins  and  uncles  at  respect- 
ful distance ;  relations  get  more  and  more  strained,  and 
we  shall  see  to  what  stress  they  come  under  the  reign 
of  John  the  Terrible.  The  next  class,  the  members  of 
the  princely  droujina,  began  a  long  time  ago  to  prefer 
the  rich  and  powerful  Moscovian  grand  dukes  to  their 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  71 

different  minor  princes;  as  their  service  had  no  com- 
pulsory character  and  they  were  bound  by  no  obli- 
gation, they  were  perfectly  free  to  pass  from  one 
chief  to  another ;  by  their  going  over  to  Moscow  they 
at  the  same  time  effected  the  reinforcement  of  the 
grand  duke  and  the  weakening  of  the  lesser  princes. 
Lastly  the  peasants,  the  agricultural  class,  who  at 
this  time  were  not  yet  bound  to  the  territory  but 
free  to  pass  from  one  landowner  to  another,  naturally 
preferred  to  settle  round  the  rich  and  populous  chief 
town. 

Such  were  the  currents  of  social  classes  which  were 
set  in  movement  by  the  rising  authority  of  the  grand 
dukes,  and  which  by  that  same  movement  furthered  a 
still  greater  growth  of  this  authority.  By  a  mutual 
influence  of  cause  and  consequence  those  same  ele- 
ments which  had  undergone  the  attraction  towards 
the  centre  contributed  to  its  further  exaltation. 

Dimitry,  the  vanquisher  of  Mamay,  is  the  first  grand 
duke  who  by  will  disposes  of  the  grand-diical  throne, 
and  leaves  it  to  his  eldest  son :  that  which  till  then 
had  been  an  abstract  principle,  sanctioned  by  the 
Tartar  khan,  thus  becomes  an  act  of  individual  decision. 
From  this  time  the  succession  of  the  elder  son  is 
always  established  by  the  will  of  the  father;  some- 
times, to  prevent  misunderstandings,  the  son  is  crowned 
during  his  father's  life  and  appointed  co-regent;  the 
wills  of  the  grand  dukes  make  more  and  more  differ- 
ence between  the  eldest  and  the  other  sons ;  and  John 
the  Terrible  in  his  will  leaves  the  whole  country  to  his 
eldest  son  and  only  one  province  to  the  second,  and  this 
one  province  is  no  longer  an  independent  dpmain  but 
an  inseparable  part  of  the  kingdom  :  the  Tsar's  brother 


72  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

becomes  a  landowner,  but  no  other  ruler  is  left  in  the 
country  except  the  Tsar. 

These  were  the  consequences,  from  the  point  of  view 
of  inner  politics  of  Moscow's  growth;  it  had  still 
another  result,  if  not  of  deeper,  at  any  rate  of  wider, 
importance.  Till  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century 
Moscow  was  a  Central  Russian  princedom,  surrounded 
by  Russian  neighbours;  consequently  it  never  knew 
what  exterior  politics  meant;  all  relations  outside  its 
own  frontier  were  more  or  less  friendly,  but  always 
of  a  domestic  character.  Diplomacy  did  not  exist.  John 
III  is  the  first  prince  who,  ascending  the  throne  of 
the  Princedom  of  Moscow,  realizes  that  he  stands  on 
the  throne  of  all  the  Russias.  The  inner  barriers  built 
up  by  family  discords  and  personal  ambition  fall  down 
and  are  levelled  by  the  great  mass  of  homogeneous 
population,  speaking  one  language,  converging  to  one 
centre.  And  when  the  first  "Lord  and  Grand  Duke 
of  all  the  Russias,"  etc.,  standing  on  his  throne  directs 
his  look  beyond  the  frontiers  of  his  country,  he  sees 
that  the  Russian  land  has  foreign  neighbours :  on  the 
northwest,  the  Swedes,  on  the  west,  the  Order  of  the 
Teutonic  Knights,  —  Lithuania  and  Poland;  and  on 
the  southwest,  the  Turkish  Empire ;  and  all  along  that 
western  frontier,  from  the  north  down  to  Kiev,  he  sees 
ancient  Russian  provinces,  the  first  ones,  Russia's 
cradle,  torn  away  and  incorporated  by  Poland.  This 
is  what  John  III  beheld,  and  what  others  before  him 
had  had  no  time  to  realize,  occupied  as  they  were  with 
the  Tartar  and  the  "collecting  of  the  Russian  land." 
And  as  John  III  was  the  first  who  saw  his  foreign  neigh- 
bours, he  was  also  the  first  who  made  himself  seen. 

The    reappearance   of    the    Russian   prmce   on    the 


AND   RUSSIAN    LITERATURE  73 

European  scene  after  an  absence  of  over  two  hundred 
years  is  interesting,  and  takes  place  under  rather  pict- 
uresque circumstances. 

Byzantium  had  just  fallen.  The  family  of  the  last 
Emperor,  Constantine  Palaeologus,  had  fled  to  Rome  and 
were  living  under  the  protection  of  the  Pope.  In  1469 
an  ambassador  from  Rome  comes  to  Moscow,  and  in 
the  name  of  Pope  Paul  II  offers  the  Grand  Duke  the 
hand  of  Princess  Sophia  Palaeologus,  daughter  of  the 
last  Emperor's  brother  and  the  Duchess  of  Ferrara. 
The  Grand  Duke  declines  to  give  his  consent  before 
sending  an  embassy  of  his  own  to  Rome.  Meanwhile 
Pope  Paul  II  dies,  and  the  news  reaches  Moscow  that 
Calixtus  has  been  elected.  In  January  the  embassy 
leaves  Moscow,  having  at  its  head  an  Italian  who 
has  been  living  there  for  some  time  past  On  their 
way  they  learn  that  it  is  not  Calixtus  but  Sixtus  who 
has  been  elected ;  they  scratch  out  the  wrong  name 
from  the  Grand  Duke's  letter,  substitute  the  right  one, 
and  in  May  they  get  to  Rome.  On  the  25th,  Sixtus  IV 
receives  the  Moscovite  ambassadors,  who  hand  to  him 
the  Grand  Duke's  letter  and  sixty  sable  skins.  On  the 
first  of  June,  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  Sophia  Palaeologus 
is  betrothed  by  proxy  to  John  III.  On  the  24th 
of  June  she  leaves  Rome  and — via  Lubeck,  the  Baltic 
Sea,  Reval,  Pskoff  —  arrives  in  Moscow  on  the  I2th 
of  November,  escorted  by  the  Pope's  legate  and  the 
ambassadors  sent  by  her  two  brothers.^  The  pomp, 
the  political  importance  of   this  marriage,  just  suited 

1  One  of  her  brothers  later  came  twice  to  Moscow  and  married  his 
daughter  to  one  of  the  Russian  princes.  This  prince  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  on  gooQ  terms  either  with  his  brother-in-law  or  his  father-in- 
law,  and  by  will  passed  over  his  rights  to  the  Byzantine  throne  to  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella  of  Spain. 


74  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


the  ambitions  of  John  III ;  it  liiade  him  the  immediate 
successor  of  the  Byzantine  emperors;  thus  it  was 
accepted  by  his  contemporaries,  thus  he  meant  it  him- 
self, when  he  adopted  the  Byzantine  double-headed 
eagle  as  the  coat  of  arms  of  Russia.  For  the  first 
time  etiquette  is  introduced  at  court,  copied  chiefly 
from  the  Byzantine  ceremonial. 

Such   was   the  gate   through   which   this   sovereign 
entered  history,  passing  over  the  threshold  of  a  new 
period.     His  contemporaries  seem  to  have  realized  the 
new  importance  which  the  figure  of  the  monarch  had 
assumed.     In  his  allocution  to  the  Grand  Duke,  on  the 
day  of  his  crowning,  the  Metropolitan  called  him,  "  Glo- 
rious Tsar  and  Auioeratr     We  hardly  can  in  our  days 
measure  the  sense  the  word  "  autocrat "  must  have  had 
at  that  moment,  pronounced  for  the  first  time,  by  the 
head  of  the  Church,  and  resounding  after  two  hundred 
years  of  a  humiliating  yoke.     It  was  the  solemn  recog- 
nition of  the  only  force  which  proved  to  have  the  power 
of  reconstituting  the  national  unity.     It  was  the  his- 
torical homage  of  gratitude  to  the  only  principle  which 
proved  to  be  firm  amidst  the   instability  of   the   other 
elements  of  national  life. 

John  III,  indeed,  opened  the  chief  questions  which 
have  determined  the  subsequent  historical  development 
of  the  country.  By  overthrowing  the  Tartar  yoke  he  in- 
augurates the  aggressive  policy  against  Asia.  Not  only 
will  Russia  not  suffer  from  new  incursions,  but  she 
will  prevent  the  very  possibility  of  their  reiteration  by 
rendenng  herself  master  of  those  regions  whence  the 
invasions  had  spread.^    As  the  end  of  this  policy,  which 

»  "It  wanted  aU  the  western  ignorance  of  Russian  affairs,"  says  A  Le- 
roy-Beaul,eu.«to  speak  of « sending  Russians  back  to  their  st;ppei  whence 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  75 

led  to  the  annexation  of  Siberia  by  John  the  Terrible 
in  1582,*  we  have  ourselves  seen  the  first  rails  of  the 
great  trans-Siberian  line  laid  by  the  Emperor  Nicholas 
II,  at  the  time  heir  to  the  throne,  when  he  landed  on 
the  Pacific  coast  m  May,  1891.^  The  question  on  the 
western  frontier  of  the  reincorporation  of  the  old  Rus- 
sian provinces  was  handed  over  by  John  III  to  his  pos- 
terity as  one  of  the  most  burning  questions  of  national 
history.  Its  definite  solution,  postponed  from  time  to 
time  by  a  continuous  widening  of  interests,  led  to  the 
Swedish  wars  of  Peter  the  Great;  the  conquest  of 
the  Baltic  shores,  the  foundation  of  St.  Petersburg,  and 
the  formation  of  the  Russian  fleet. 

Under  John  III  the  first  relations  with  Western  Eu- 
rope begin.  An  embassy  is  exchanged  with  the  Ger- 
man Emperor  Frederick  IV,  who  asks  for  the  hand  of 
one  of  John's  daughters  for  his  son  Maximilian  ;'^it, 
however,  had  no  result. 

Of  greater  consequence  were  the  embassies  ex- 
changed with  Italy,  especially  with  Venice.*    The  Rus- 

they  ought  never  to  have  moved.'  Far  from  coming  from  the  steppes,  the 
Russians  entered  them  at  a  comparatively  recent  epoch."  ("  L'Empire 
des  Tsars."  Paris,  1883- 1 889.  T.  i,  1.  i,  chap.  iii.  English  transUtion, 
Putnam  &  Co.,  New  York.) 

1  On  Russia's  colonizing  movement :  A.  Brueckner,  "  Eoropiisirang 
Russland's."     Gotha,  1888,  chap.  iv. 

-  Prince  Ookhtomsky,  "  Journey  of  the  Tsarevich."  3  toIs.  Edin- 
burgh. Constable,  1S95.  On  "  Siberia  and  the  Great  Siberian  Raflway." 
Vol.  V  of  "  The  Industries  of  Russia.  Composed  by  order  of  the  Miniftry 
of  Finance  for  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  at  Chicago."  5  vol*. 
St.  Petersburg,  1893. 

»  What  would  have  become  of  European  history  had  Maximilian  I  mar- 
ried a  Russian  princess  and  not  Mary  of  Burgundy  ? 

*  On  Russian  early  embassies  abroad :  A.  Brueckner,  •*  Bdtrige  xwr 
Kulturgeschichte." 


76  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTTORY 

sian  Grand  Duke,  wishing  to  adorn  his  capital  with  stone 
buildings,  sent  to  Venice  for  an  architect.  Fioravanti, 
called  Aristoteles,  was  delegated  by  Doge  Marcello,  and 
from  this  time  dates  that  queer  architecture  which  is 
like  the  petrification  of  the  old  Russian  wooden  style. 
The  chief  cathedrals,  the  beautiful  white  wall,  and  all 
the  splendour  of  the  "golden-headed"  Kremlin  date 
from  this  reign.^ 

An  interesting  episode  of  Moscow's  relations  with 
Italy  is  the  participation  of  the  Metropolitan  Isidor  at  the 
ecclesiastical  council,  convoked  by  Popp  Eugene  IV  in 
1438  at  Florence,  while  the  grand-ducal  throne  in  Mos- 
cow was  occupied  by  John  Ill's  father,  Basil  the  Gloomy. 
The  Byzantine  Emperor,  John  Palaeologus,^  had  hoped 
a  reconciliation  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  churches  would 
help  to  strengthen  him  against  the  advancing  march  of 
the  Ottoman  forces ;  he  went  to  Italy  and  became  the 
zealous  promoter  of  the  council.  The  sessions  began 
in  the  autumn,  first  at  St.  George's  Church  in  Ferrara ; 
in  January  they  were  transferred  to  the  church  of  Santa 
Maria  Novella  at  Florence.  On  the  6th  of  July  the 
close  of  the  council  was  celebrated  with  a  pontifical 
mass.  Yet  it  had  no  practical  result:  the  eastern 
churches  did  not  adopt  the  decision  of  their  repre- 
sentatives, who  accepted  the  recognition  of  the  Pope's 
supremacy.  The  Metropolitan  Isidor,  returning  to 
Moscow,  was  declared   apostate  and  had  to  flee;   he 

*  On  Russian  architecture :  Viollet-le-Duc,  "  L'art  Rnsse."  Paris,  1877. 
On  the  Kremlin :  Weltmann,  "  Souvenirs  historiqaes  da  Kremlin  de  Mos- 
cow." Moscow,  1843.  Fabricius,  "  Le  Kremlin  de  Moscow."  Moscow, 
1883.  On  Russian  antiquities:  "Antiquites  de  PEmpire  de  Russie." 
6  vols,  in  folio.  Moscow,  1849- 1853.  Solutsev,  "Antiquities  of  the  Rus- 
sian Sute."     6  vols,  plates  and  6  vols,  text  (Russian).     Moscow,  1849. 

2  He  was  married  to  Basil's  daughter,  Anna. 


f\ 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  77 


died  in  Rome,  a  cardinal.  In  the  Laurentian  Library 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  Church  at  Florence  you  may 
see  an  ornamented  document,  hanging  in  a  frame 
which  is  chained  to  the  wall  —  it  is  the  act  of  the 
Florentine  council :  among  the  Latin  and  Greek  signa- 
tures  which  follow  those  of  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor 
you  may  see  in  red  Slavonic  characters  the  signature 
of  the  "  humble  minister  of  God,  Isidor,  Metropolitan 
of  Russia."  ^ 

Under  John  Ill's  son,  Basil,  the  Austrian  baron, 
Herberstein,  twice  came  to  Moscow,  once  in  15 16, 
sent  by  the  Emperor  Maximilian  I ;  the  next  time,  on 
Charles  V's  part  in  1526.  More  valuable  for  us  than 
the  orders  he  brought  with  him  are  the  impressions 
he  received  and  took  home.  His  "  Rerum  Moscovi- 
tarum  ^ommentarii "  are  one  of  the  most  precious 
documents  in  the  bibliography  of  foreign  writings  con- 
cerning ancient  Russia.* 

Under  the  reign  of  Basil's  son,  John  IV  the  Terrible, 
the  first  commercial  relations  with  England  were  estab- 
lished. The  English  merchants  envying  the  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  for  the  successes  of  their  commerce 
brought  about  by  their  geographical  discoveries,  decided 
to  find  some  new  resources  for  themselves.  A  society 
was  founded  "  for  the  discovery  of  unknown  lands,"  and 
in  May,  1553,  several  vessels  left  the  Thames  provided 
with  a  letter  of  Edward  VI,  "  to  the  soverei^s  of  eastern 

1  On  later  relations  of  Moscow  with  the  Vatican :  Le  P.  Pierling,  S.  J., 
"  Rome  at  Moscow  (I547-I579)-"  P^i^,  1883.  "Grigoire  XIII  et  Ivan 
le  Terrible."     ("  Revue  des  questions  historiques."     Avril,  1 883.) 

•^  The  first  Latin  edition  in  Vienna,  1549-  Translated  into  several  lan- 
guages. The  English  transUUon,  published  by  the  Hakluyt  Society  in 
1851-1852:  "Notes  upon  Russia."     2to1s. 


78  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

and  northern  countries."  The  next  year  Captain  Chan- 
cellor, commander  of  one  of  these  ships,  enters  the  mouth 
of  the  Northern  Dwina ;  he  gets  ashore  and  goes  to  Mos- 
cow. He  is  kindly  received  by  the  Tsar  and  dismissed 
with  a  letter  for  King  Edward.  In  1555,  the  same  Chan- 
cellor reappears  in  Moscow  as  an  official  envoy  of  King 
Philip  and  Queen  Mary.  At  the  end  of  the  negotiations 
the  English  merchants  are  given  the  privilege  of  free 
trade  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  When  in  1557  the  am- 
bassador of  John  IV  came  to  London,  Russian  mer- 
chants were  granted  the  same  privilege  in  England.^ 

Thus  it  is  by  way  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  that  Russia 
feels  the  first  contact  of  the  world's  commercial  move- 
ment. She  might  have  felt  it  from  another  side,  —  from 
her  territorial  frontier,  and  she  even  hoped  to  do  so  :  sev- 
eral times  artisans  and  artists  had  been  asked  for  and 

1  All  documents  concerning  these  negotiations  in :  "  The  First  Forty 
Years  of  Intercourse  between  England  and  Russia."  Documents  collected, 
copied,  and  edited  by  George  Tolstoi,  St.  Petersburg,  1875;  also  in  vol. 
xxviii,  of  the  Russian  Imperial  Historical  Society. 

An  interesting  contemporary  book:  -Giles  Fletcher,  "Of  the  Russe 
Common  Wealth  or  Manner  of  Governement  by  the  Russe  Emperor  com- 
monly called  the  Emperour  of  Moscovia  with  the  manners  and  fashions  of 
the  people  of  the  country.  At  London.  Printed  by  T.  D.  for  Thomas 
Chare,  1 59 1."  (A  bibliographical  rarity,  reprinted  in  Ed.  A.  Bond's  "  Rus- 
sia at  the  Qose  of  the  Sixteenth  Century."     London,  1856.). 

G.  Fletcher  (1565-1610),  student  of  Eton  and  Cambridge,  was  sent  to 
Moscow  in  1588;  he  spent  two  years  in  Russia,  and  returning  to  London 
published  his  book  in  1591.  His  work  contains  many  valuable  details 
though  very  insufficient  in  its  appreciations  and  deductions.  The  careless- 
ness with  which  he  treated  his  subject  appears  clearly  enough  from  his  state- 
ment that  Russia  has  neither  written  hUtory  nor  written  law,  whereas  at 
that  time  Russia  possessed  the  "Annals,"  the  "  Russian  Law,"  the  "Code 
of  John  III  "  (1497)  and  the  "  Code  of  John  IV  "  (1550).  Too  much  credit 
is  paid  to  accounts  of  Hetcher,  Horsay,  and  other  "contemporaries"  by 
W.  R.  Morfill,  in  his  "  Story  of  Russia  "  (in  the  series"  The  Story  of  Nations," 
New  York,  1 891),  for  the  rest  a  very  conscientious  and  valuable  work. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITEIL\TURE  79 


sent,  but  our  nearest  neighbours  never  allowed  them  to 
pass  the  Russian  frontier.  In  1 547  Charles  V,  who  then 
was  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  gave  to  the  Tsar's  envoy  a 
permit  conferring  upon  him  the  right  of  recruiting,  in  the 
confines  of  the  Empire,  learned  and  skilled  men  to  be 
taken  over  to  Russia.  A  hundred  and  twenty-three  arti- 
sans were  ready  to  sail  from  Lubeck,  but  they  were 
arrested  in  consequence  of  Livonian  intrigue;  one  of 
them  attempting  to  escape  to  Moscow  was  executed  by 
the  German  Knights  of  the  Teutonic  Order.  The  mag- 
istrates of  Riga  even  extorted  from  Charles  V  a  written 
promise  that  no  more  artisans  should  be  sent  to  Russia. 
No,  the  western  frontier  was  no  junction ;  it  was  care- 
fully watched  and  made  into  a  barrier.  Listen  to  what 
King  Sigismund  Augustus  of  Poland  writes  to  Queen 
Elizabeth  of  England  :  — 

"  As  we  have  written  afore,  so  now  we  write  againe  to 
your  Ma^  that  we  know  and  feele  of  a  surety  the  Mos- 
covite  dayly  to  grow  mightier  by  the  increseof  such  things 
as  be  brought  to  the  Narue,^  while  not  onely  wares  but 
also  weapons  heretofore  vnknowen  to  him,  and  artificers 
and  arts  be  brought  vnto  him :  by  meane  whereof  he 
maketh  himselfe  strong  to  vanquish  all  others.  Which 
things,  as  long  as  this  voyage  to  Narue  is  vsed,  can  not  be 
stopped.  And  we  perfectly  know  your  Ma*?'  can  not  be 
ignorant  of  what  force  he  is.  We  seemed  hitherto  to 
vanquish  him  onely  in  this,  that  he  was  rude  of  arts,  and 
ignorant  of  policies.  If  so  be  that  this  navigation  to 
the  Narue  continue,  what  shall  be  vnknowen  to  him  ? "  * 

1  Now  Narva,  a  town  connected  with  the  Baltic  by  the  river  Narova. 

2  G.  Toktoi,  op.  cit.  The  original  <:ontains  a  few  remark!  on  John's 
personal  character;  we  leave  them  out  as  having  no  importance  in  this 
case  :  in  a  political  system  psychological  considerations  are  a  pretext,  not  an 
argiunent. 


8o  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN    HISTORY 


The  precautions  of  the  King  of  Poland  were  useless ; 
the  difficulties  and  risks  of  those  frozen  regions  which 
Chancellor  had  to  traverse  did  not  prevent  Russia  from 
being  "  discovered  "  independently  of  Narva.  The  uni- 
fying spirit  which  works  in  the  world  had  overcome 
the  greatest  obstacles  of  Nature :  what  were  the  partial 
efforts  of  national  division  ?  ^ 

The  intercourse  with  foreigners  has  made  us  deviate 
for  a  while  from  our  main  subject  —  the  inner  growth 
of  the  political  elements ;  let  us  take  up  the  interrupted 
thread.  As  you  saw,  the  sovereign  of  Moscow  grew, 
surrounded  by  the  newly  rising  class  of  the  titled 
nobility,  descendants  of  the  deposed  minor  princes. 
The  authority  of  the  Grand  Duke  grew,  as  a  result  of 
the  dynastic  decay  of  the  aristocracy ;  the  importance 
of  the  aristocracy  grew  in  consequence  of  its  proximity 
to  the  rising  throne.  Thanks  to  such  a  simultaneous 
growth  of  these  two  elements,  towards  the  beginning  of 
the  fifteenth  century  Moscow  presents  an  absolute  mon- 
archy with  an  aristocratic  government;  the  "Douma," 
composed  of  the  chief  representatives  of  the  aristoc- 
racy, becomes  somewhat  like  a  plural  counsellor.  But 
in  spite  of  this  well-established  political  form  the  two 
elements  did  not  assimilate ;  the  inner  harmony  was 
troubled  by  passions  and  was  too  much  dependent 
upon  individual  character.  This  fully  appeared  when 
the  absolute  power  passed  into  the  hands  of  such  a 
character  as  John  the  Terrible. 

In  1547  the  grandson  of  John  III  crowns  himself 
first  Tsar  of   Russia.     The  title,  a  Russified  abbrevia- 

1  On  foreign  travellers  in  Russia :  Adelung,  "  Kritisch-literarische 
Uebersicht  der  Reisenden  in  Russland  bis  1700,  deren  Berichte  bekannt 
sind."     St.  Petersburg,  1864- 


AND   RUSSIAN    LITERATURE  8i 


tion  of  the  Latin  "Caesar,"  appears  before;  John  III 
and  Basil  were  often  called  "  Tsar,"  yet  never  in  offi- 
cial acts.  The  beginnings  of  John  IV  prognosticate  a 
brilliant  reign.  Intelligent  and  well-intentioned  coun- 
sellors surround  the  young  sovereign  ;  a  beautiful  woman 
of  high  moral  qualities  is  chosen  by  the  Tsar  to  be  his 
wife ;  Anastasia  Romanov  becomes  his  guardian  angel, 
quickens  the  good  aspirations  of  his  character,  and 
dulls  the  instincts  of  him  who  will  be  called  "  the  Ter- 
rible," or  more  correctly,  "the  thunder-stormy."  Ka- 
zan and  Astrakhan,  the  two  Tartar  kingdoms  which 
still  survive  on  the  Volga,  are  overthrown  and  annexed ; 
a  work  of  legislation  is  begun ;  the  war  with  Sweden, 
Livonia,  and  Poland  begins  the  interminable  struggle 
which  is  destined  to  clear  the  way  from  Moscow  to 
Europe.  But  the  brilliant  period  does  not  last.  Anas- 
tasia Romanov  dies,  and  with  her  death  the  handle  of 
John's  moral  tiller  breaks. 

One  day  during  a  very  bad  illness  he  was  lying  in 
bed,  and  by  chance  overheard  a  violent  dispute  in  the 
next  room :  the  boyars  were  discussing  the  succession 
to  the  throne,  and  from  his  bed  the  Tsar  could  hear 
that  they  nearly  all  were  refusing  to  execute  his  Will 
—  to  take  the  oath  in  favour  of  his  son.  They  did 
not  care  to  have  Anastasia's  family  secure  political 
preponderance  at  their  cost :  the  Romanovs  were  a 
younger  family  than  they  were  and  did  not  descend 
from  Rurik,  —  so  strong  as  yet  was  the  feeling  of  their 
dynastic  relationship  to  the  ruling  house.*     The  dying 

1  And  yet,  such  were  the  trials  of  the  following  period  which  ended  with 
the  "  times  of  confusion,"  so  entirely  was  that  dynastic  pride  suppressed 
by  the  levelling  force  of  a  common  national  danger,  that  sixty  years  later  a 
youth  of  this  same  family  was  elected  to  the  throne  just  because  he  was  not 
one  of  themselves. 


G 


82  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

Tsar  listened  to  the  criticism  of  his  Will ;  and  all  the 
intrigue  which  had  surrounded  his  fatherless  child- 
hood at  once  came  back  to  his  memory.'  He  is  filled 
with  disgust,  mistrust  glides  into  his  heart  and  awakens 
suspicion  in  his  mind.  He  does  not  die ;  he  recovers, 
but  he  arises  from  the  couch  another  man. 

One  day  the  population  of  Moscow  learned  with 
amazement  that  the  Tsar  had  unexpectedly  left  the  town 
with  his  whole  court  and  made  off  for  one  of  his  sub- 
urban residences.  A  month  later  two  briefs  came  to 
Moscow :  in  the  one  the  Tsar  declared  himself  the  friend 
and  protector  of  the  people;  in  the  other  he  covered 
with  reproach  the  nobility  and  the  clergy;  finally  he 
declared  that  he  would  nevermore  return  to  his  capital. 
Never  before  had  history  seen  a  sovereign  who  was 
pouting  at  his  country,  and  this  is  what  it  was,  and 
so  it  remained  until  the  end.  Unfortunately  this  pout- 
ing was  not  inactive ;  he  virtually  put  himself  out  of  his 
own  country.  The  kingdom  was  divided  into  two  parts : 
the  whole  land  on  one  side,  and  the  sovereign  and  his 
immediate  surrounding  on  the  other.  This  immediate 
surrounding,  forming  the  Tsar's  personal  guard  of  about 
a  thousand  men,  became  the  terror  of  the  country.  They 
were  called  "  oprichniky,"  from  the  word  "  oprich,"  "  out- 
side," meaning  that  they  were  put  "outside"  the  law 
and  had  to  fear  nothing  in  accomplishing  their  duty  of 
hunting  down  the  Tsar's  enemies.  Their  ensign  —  a 
dog's  head  and  a  broom  hanging  on  each  side  of  their 
saddle — was  the  emblems  of  the  qualities  required  for 
"sweeping  away  treason."  A  terrible  epoch  began, — 
terrible  for  everybody,  —  although  the  Tsar  had  declared 
himself  the  friend  of  the  people.  By  hundreds,  by 
thousands,  were  counted  the  victims  whose  names  were 


AND  RUSSIAN  LITERATURE  83 


inscribed  by  order  of  the  Tsar  in  the  diptychs  of  differ- 
ent convents  in  order  that  prayers  should  be  ofifered  for 
the  salvation  of  their  souls. 

All  that  slumbered  in  that  dark  and  enigmatic  char- 
acter by  and  by  came  to  the  surface ;  his  instincts  sud- 
denly overcame  his  talents,  and  the  latter  reappear 
thereafter  only  when  he  sees  that  anybody  holds  them 
in  doubt:  then  suddenly  he  rises  in  all  the  brightness 
of  his  versatility.  In  his  correspondence  with  Prince 
Kourbsky,  one  of  his  worst  enemies,  who  had  fled  to  the 
Polish  king,  he  shows  himself  one  of  the  most  learned 
men  of  his  time ;  his  letters  swarm  with  quotations  from 
Scripture,  from  Greek  and  Latin  authors ;  in  his  diplo- 
matic intercourse  he  is  a  proud  and  self-conscious  head 
of  that  same  country  which  at  home  he  treats  as  an 
enemy ;  in  his  writings  of  a  semi-lyrical,  semi-religiou& 
character  he  is  humble,  subdued,  crushed  under  the 
weight  of  his  crimes,  annihilated  by  repentance.  But 
let  a  foreign  sovereign  refuse  him  one  of  his  titles, 
his  susceptibility  is  on  fire ;  in  his  care  for  his  dynastic 
dignity  he  is  sometimes  almost  childish.  "We  are 
descended  from  Caesar  Augustus ;  it  is  known  to  every- 
body," he  says  to  the  envoy  of  the  King  of  Poland.^ 
But  to  whatever  passion  he  may  give  way,  it  is 
always  with  theatrical  effect.  He  likes  the  pomp  of 
executions,  the  picturesqueness  of  tortures,  the  magnifi- 
cence of  massacres:  he  loves  the  sumptuousness  of 
religious  ceremonies,  but  he  prefers  the  rigidity  of  the 
humble  cell  where  he  retires  from  the  wickedness  of 

»  This  genealogy  by  and  by  received  official  sanction :  in  the  chartCT  on 
the  election  of  Michael  Romanov  (1613)  Rurik  is  represented  as  direct 
descendant  of  Augustus,  Emperor  of  the  Romans.  ("CoUection  ol  State 
Charters  and  Treaties,"  No.  203,  voL  i.     St  Petersburg,  1813.) 


84  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

the  world,  where  he  contemplates  the  ulcers  of  his 
soul;  he  delights  to  confess  his  sins,  he  is  touched  by 
the  sight  of  his  own  repentance.^  Strange  to  say,  this 
mighty  despot  was  a  feeble  character;  he  could  not 
stand  out  against  contradiction ;  he  was  clever,  bright, 
eloquent  only  on  paper  or  when  he  knew  that  he  would 
not  be  interrupted ;  but  he  could  not  discuss  :  the  moment 
he  was  contradicted  he  became  furious  and  nothing  else. 
Under  such  conditions  this  theatric  disposition  became 
a  means  of  isolating  himself,  of  cutting  short  all  attempts 
at  contradiction ;  any  man  can  be  tempted  to  enter  into 
a  discussion,  but  who  ever  will  dare  to  interrupt  the 
course  of  a  theatrical  performance !  Thus  he  built  up 
something  like  a  fortress  behind  which  he  felt  unassail- 
able and  safe.  Such  was  the  man  who  till  1584  occu- 
pied the  throne  of  Moscow. 

The  character  of  John  the  Terrible  is  a  point  on 
which  the  greatest  divergency  of  opinion  is  shown  by 
our  historians.  Some  make  of  him  the  central  figure  of 
the  whole  ante-petrine  epoch.  Overlooking  the  defects 
of  his  character  and  the  dark  sides  of  his  reign,  they 
put  in  evidence  his  talents,  which  came  to  the  front 
under  propitious  circumstances,  when  suspicion  was 
dulled  and  cruelty  not  provoked;  they  make  him  the 
pivot  of  the  Moscovite  period, —  a  sort  of  Peter  the 
Great  to  whom  history  refused  opportunities.  Others 
see  nothing  except  a  crazy  despot  who,  for  a  while 
at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  had  experienced  the 
beneficent  influence  of  a  few  good  counsellors  and 
an  intelligent  and  loving  wife,  but  afterwards  showed 
nothing  but  cruelty,  animalism,  and  hypocrisy.    These 

»  C.  Aksakov,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Slavophile  party,  was  the  firet 
to  put  into  light  this  side  of  John's  character. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  85 


make  him  a  sort  of  Russian  Nero;  worse  than  the 
Roman  —  for  he  was  a  Christian,  at  least  lived  in  Chris- 
tian times  and  professed  Christianity.  A  man  who 
can  be  estimated  so  differently  would  furnish  an  inter- 
esting subject  for  psychological  studies  even  if  he  had 
been  a  private  individual ;  but  in  this  case  the  quali- 
.ties  which  determine  such  contradictory  judgments  hap- 
pen to  be  those  of  a  sovereign, —  a  sovereign  whose 
ancestors  present  a  gradual  rising  of  monarchical  self- 
consciousness,  whose  grandfather  had  been  called  "  au- 
tocrat" by  the  head  of  the  Church,  and  who  himself, 
considering  himself  the  culminating  point  of  this  his- 
torical ascension,  takes  the  title  of  Tsar  of  Russia.  His 
was  one  of  those  richly  endowed  personalities  which 
contain  the  germs  of  every  kind  of  development ; 
Nature  seems  to  have  equally  equipped  them  for 
vice  or  virtue  and  to  have  insisted  upon  no  prefer- 
ences :  the  realization  of  their  character  is  made  an 
act  of  their  individual  choice,  whether  they  give  the 
pre-eminence  to  talents  or  to  instincts.^  In  this  case 
psychology  may  plead  extenuating  circumstances, — 
history  takes  count  of  facts  and  registers  the  implaca- 
ble verdict  of  the  national  memory.  It  is  to  be  de- 
plored that  the  normal  growth  of  the  political  body 
which  was  only  just  ready  to  be  settled  and  consolidated 
was  suddenly  interrupted  by  the  intervention  of  a  man 
abnormal  in  every  way,  a  sovereign  of  great  political 
wisdom,  yet  only  in  theory.  By  reducing  interests  of 
internal  policy  to  questions  of  personal  security,  he  sus- 

»  " .  .  .  and  the  greater  the  soul  of  a  man,  the  more  it  is  capable  of 
undergoing  the  influence  of  good,—  the  deeper  does  it  fall  in  the  abyss  of 
crime,  the  more  does  it  harden  in  evlL  Such  was  John."  (Belinsky,  Work*, 
vol.  iL     In  Russian.) 


86  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

pended  the  historical  development  of  his  country ;  by 
killing  his  eldest  son  in  a  fit  of  rage,  he  occasioned  the 
extinction  of  the  dynasty ;  by  leaving  the  throne  to  his 
second  son,  the  feeble-minded  and  childless  Theodor,* 
he  opened  the  way  for  the  trials  by  which  the  country 
had  to  expiate  his  crimes.  Few  epochs  in  history  oflFer 
an  accumulation  of  such  disasters  as  those  which  befell 
Russia  after  his  reign :  three  impostors  assuming  the 
name  of  Dimitry,  an  infant  son  of  John  the  Terrible, 
who  had  perished  under  the  knife  of  a  murderer ;  ^  the 
invasion  of  the  Polish  army,  the  occupation  of  Moscow ; 
gangs  of  robbers,  and  an  ever-increasing  anarchy  fill 
those  terrible  years  known  as  "times  of  confusion."* 
Fifteen  years  of  chaotic  fermentation  separate  the 
death  of  the  last  royal  descendant  of  Rurik  in  1598, 
from  the  election  of  the  first  Romanov  in  161 3.     The 

1  A  touching  character,  this  last  offspring  of  the  d3mast7;  but  times 
were  too  hard,  and  historical  circumstances  required  another  sovereign  than 
he  who,  according  to  the  chronicles,  had  "  all  his  life  avoided  vanities  of 
the  world  and  thought  of  nothing  but  heavenly  things."  The  description 
of  Theodor's  coronation  by  J.  Horsey  :  Appendix  No.  I  to  Bond's  "  Rus- 
sia at  the  Close  of  the  Sixteenth  Century."  A  tragedy  by  Count  Alexis 
Tolstoi :  "  Feodor  Ivanovich."  German  translation  by  Mr.  C  Pavloffl 
Dresden,  1869. 

2  On  these  times :  Prosper  Merimee,  "  Les  faux  Demetrius."  Paris, 
1853.  Le  P.  Pierling,  S.  J.,  "Rome  et  Demetrius."  Paris,  1878.  The 
first  False  Dimitry  has  often  been  treated  by  dramatists  (with  more  or  less 
historical  truth)  :  Poushkin,  "  Boris  Godounoff^."  French  translation  by 
Tourgenieff  and  Viardot.  English  translation  and  abridgment,  by  Nathan 
Haskell  Dole,  Poet  Lore,  1 890.  Soumarokof, "  Dimitry  the  Impostor."  Eng- 
lish translation.  London,  1806.  Schiller, "  Demetrius."  General  Alexan- 
der, "  Dramatic  Sketch  from  Russian  History."     London,  1876. 

*  An  interesting  contemporary  work  by  a  Dutch  traveller :  «  Histoire 
des  guerres  de  la  Moscovie  (1601-1610)  par  Isaac  Massa  de  Haarlem, 
publiee  pour  la  premiere  fois  d'apres  le  Ms.  hoUandais  original  de  1610 
avec  d'autres  opuscules  sur  la  Russie  et  des  annotations  par  le  Pr.  Michel 
Obolensky  et  M.  le  Dr.  A.  Van  der  Linde."     2  vols.     Brussels,  1866. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  87 


"  Thunder-stormy  "  Tsar  disappeared,  but  he  left  a  pro- 
found furrow ;  it  took  the  country  a  long  time  to  recover 
from  the  persecutions  of  his  reign. 

And  yet  so  strong  is  the  prestige  of  character  that 
John  the  Terrible  had  his  admirers.  While  science  dis- 
cusses his  greater  or  less  value  from  the  point  of  view  of 
historic  morality,  art,  greedy  of  pure  picturesqueness, 
takes  possession  of  this  fantastic  despot  whose  palace 
presents  an  intermingling  of  orgies  in  the  glittering  frame 
of  Byzantine  luxury,  with  litanies  and  processions  mov- 
ing in  the  religious  twilight  of  monastic  rigidity.  His 
ungainly  figure  in  the  monk's  floating  cassock,  his  aqui- 
line nose,  his  small  and  piercing  eyes,  the  velvet  skull- 
cap, the  bony  fist  clenching  the  famous  iron  staff  which 
broke  the  skull  of  his  son,  the  big  cross  on  his  breast, 
and  the  open  Bible  on  his  knees,  have  been  perpetuated 
and  handed  over  to  future  generations  by  painting, 
sculpture,  poetry,  drama.^  Thus  he  who,  during  his 
life,  had  been  hated  and  feared,  through  the  removing 
distance  of  centuries  and  the  refracting  prism  of  art 
becomes  an  object  of  admiration.  There  is  a  sort  of 
compensation  in  the  fact  that  he  who  had  so  often 
made  a  stage  play  of  his  own  life,  should  become  such 
a  fruitful  artistic  subject  after  his  death.  As  light  trans- 
pierces the  dull  piece  of  coal  and  transfigures  it  into  a 
diamond,  so  art,  getting  hold  sometimes  of  the  saddest 
facts  of  life,  penetrates  into  them  and  raises  them,  ac- 

1  "The  death  of  John  the  Terrible,"  tragedy  in  five  acts,  by  Coant  Alexit 
Tolstoi.  German  translation  by  Mr.  C.  Pavloff.  Dresden.  1868.  English 
translation  by  T.  H.  Harrison.  London,  1869.  A  fine  character  of  John 
the  Terrible  in  a  novel  by  the  same:  "Prince  Screbriany."  English 
translation  by  Captain  Filmore;  also  by  Jeremiah  Curtin  (Boston,  1892). 
Italian  translation  by  Patuzzi  in  "  Perseveranza."  1872.  On  Count  AI«ds 
Tolstoi :  A.  De  Gubematis,  "  II  Conte  Allessio  Tohtoi."     Firenie,  1874. 


88  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

cording  to  Gogol's  expression,  into  "a  jewel  of  crea- 
tion." 

Strange  is  the  aspect  historical  events  assume  when 
looked  at  under  the  optic  angle  of  art;  they  seem  to 
lose  the  vital  value  of  plants  rooted  in  the  soil ;  art 
removes  them  out  of  life,  makes  them  somewhat  innox- 
ious ;  the  most  terrible  acts  flatter  our  senses  and  do  not 
hurt  our  feelings ;  by  a  sort  of  distillation  their  venom- 
ousness  is  evaporated,  and  instead  of  alarming  us  by 
revolting  our  sense  of  morality,  as  they  do  in  life,  they 
rejoice  us  by  exciting  our  aesthetic  enthusiasm.  Here 
lies  the  danger  of  an  artistic  temperament  for  an  histori- 
cal writer.  Picturesqueness  and  morality  do  not  always 
go  hand  in  hand,  and  an  historian  with  an  excessive 
aesthetic  sensibility  must  feel  inclined  to  extenuate  the 
moral  reprehensiveness  of  a  picturesque  character  or  fact. 

We  touch  here  the  interesting  and  as  yet  scarcely  elu- 
cidated point  of  the  moral  value  of  aesthetical  emotions. 
What  art  does  with  historical  events  it  does  with  facts 
of  daily  life ;  it  picks  out  human  passions  and  human 
sufferings,  it  transplants  them  from  life  into  a  world  of 
fiction.  We  go  to  the  theatre,  and  we  sympathize  with 
what  we  see,  and  we  suffer  and  weep,  and  we  are  thor- 
oughly persuaded  that  we  are  looking  at  real  human  pain 
and  weep  real  human  tears,  whereas  we  are  looking  at 
the  representation  of  human  pain  and  weep  not  vital  but 
aesthetical  tears.  Does  the  difference  not  appear  clearly 
enough  ?  The  sight  of  real  human  pain  hurts  or  dis- 
gusts; the  representation  of  human  pain  procures  de- 
light: real  vital  tears  burn;  aesthetical  tears  —  in  the 
theatre  for  instance  —  are  a  test  of  good  acting,  the 
proof  of  our  enjoyment,  for  had  we  no  enjoyment  of  it  we 
should  never  go  to  the  theatre.     Evidently  those  human 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  89 


sufferings  which  unroll  themselves 'on  the  stage  are 
transfigured  sufferings,  and  the  process  of  transfigura- 
tion consists  in  rendering  them  harmless,  incapable  of 
wounding.  Imagine  we  might  approach,  as  it  were  a 
gigantic  aquarium,  the  under-water  world  on  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean,  and  through  the  transparency  of  the 
crystal  wall  contemplate  without  any  danger  for  our- 
selves the  monsters  moving  behind  it.  Just  so  we  con- 
template the  picture  of  human  sufferings  in  the  theatre ; 
their  sting  is  blunted,  their  venomousness  is  neutralized, 
they  touch  our  excitability,  but  they  spare  our  vulnera- 
bility. Accordingly,  if  the  instrument  of  art  is  de- 
prived of  poison  and  edge^  the  feelings  it  produces 
must  be  deprived  of  painfulness ;  and,  indeed,  instead 
of  hurting,  as  they  would  under  similar  circumstances 
in  life,  they  fascinate,  they  are  delightful,  and  we  indulge 
in  them. 

It  is  easy  to  conceive  how  wrong  it  would  be  to  adopt 
that  artistic  way  of  looking  at  human  sufferings,  and 
to  practise  it  outside  the  domain  of  art;  what  great 
faults  a  historian  might  commit  by  applying  the  aestheti- 
cal  standard  to  historical  events:  the  integrity  of  his 
judgment  can  be  corrupted  at  its  root  by  aesthetical 
considerations. 

I  fear  we  have  lost  sight  of  our  subject,  but  we  will 
not  apologize :  a  critic  said  that  digressions  were  old- 
fashioned,  but  that  still  more  old-fashioned  were  apolo- 
gies  for  digressions;  so  we  shall  not  apologize.  Let 
us  throw  a  rapid  glance  on  the  intellectual  culture  of 
this  long  period  from  the  Tartar  invasion  in  1224  to  the 
"times  of  confusion"  which  preceded  the  election  of 
the  first  Romanov  in  161 3. 

The  unfortunate  country  which  at  the  beginning  of 


9©  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

its  history  had  been  thrown  against  Asia,  seemed  to  con- 
centrate all  its  forces  into  this  struggle,  and  when  the 
hour  of  liberation  came,  the  intellectual  culture  stood 
on  the  same  point,  and  perhaps  lower,  than  at  the  hour 
of  subjugation.  The  monasteries  continued  their  work 
of  copying  and  translating,  but  it  was  always  in  the 
narrow  circle  of  Christian  Byzantinism.  There  were 
learned  men  among  the  clergy  and  at  the  court,  yet 
their  learning  had  a  hopeless  character  of  sterility ;  it 
was  reduced  to  the  knowledge  of  a  certain  number  of 
books,  intellectual  culture  consisted  not  in  a  widening  of 
the  brain  but  in  its  being  stuffed  with  quotations.  Such 
appears  to  us  the  learning  of  John  the  Terrible,  and 
he  was  one  of  the  most  learned  of  his  time.  The  word 
"  science  "  was  not  even  known  in  those  days ;  the  nar- 
row and  limited  "  skill "  or  "  craft "  was  used  in  its  place. 
Attempts  at  bringing  over  trained  artificers  from  West- 
em  Europe  had  been  made  —  we  have  seen  their  sad 
results.  At  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  several 
Russian  youths  were  sent  abroad  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  —  they  never  returned. 

In  1563  John  the  Terrible  founded  the  first  Russian 
printing-press,  assisted  by  the  advice  of  the  Metropoli- 
tan Makarius  and  the  learned  Greek  Maximus,  a  friend 
of  Aldus  Manucius  of  Venice.*  An  eminent  man  of 
that  time  was  the  above-mentioned  Prince  Kourbsky,  the 
correspondent  of  John  the  Terrible.  Besides  his  let- 
ters, where  he  shows  far  more  real  and  well-assimi- 
lated learning  than  his  most  august  correspondent,  he 
left  a  "  Story  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Moscow,  and  the 
deeds  which  we  have  learned   from   reliable    men,  or 

***The  Acts  of  the  Apostles"  was  the  6ist  book  printed  in  Russia 
(1564). 


AND  RUSSIAN  LITERATURE  9, 


which  we  saw  with  our  own  eyes":  it  is  the  first  attempt 
at  a  genuine  Russian  history.*  Another  contemporary 
of  John  IV,  the  priest  Sylvester,  has  left  an  interesting 
document,  a  code  of  domestic  morality,  called  "the 
House-builder  "  —  humble  in  its  didactic  theorizings,  des- 
potic in  its  practical  prescriptions.  The  Metropolitan 
Makarius  composed  his  great  work,  "The  Lives  of  the 
Saints,"  a  book  of  a  peculiar  poetical  charm,  which  even 
to-day  remains  a  favourite  of  the  people.  An  epic  song 
was  inspired  by  the  battle  of  Koulikovo  ("Zadon- 
schina  "),  the  first  victory  gained  over  the  Tartar,  but 
in  spite  of  an  evident  imitation  of  "The  Word  about 
Igor's  Fights  "  it  is  of  little  literary  value. 

So  scarce  are  the  products  of  the  intellectual  culture 
of  that  time ;  but  we  must  keep  in  mind  that  the  period 
we  speak  of  begins  with  the  Tartar  subjugation.  Many 
historians  say  :  "  Russia  did  not  lose  much  by  the  Tar- 
tar yoke ;  if  there  had  been  any  culture  before,  it  would 
have  survived ;  if  we  do  not  see  any  at  the  end  of  the 
period,  it  is  the  best  proof  that  there  had  been  none 
before ;  after  all,  Russia  was  not  turned  back  from  civil- 
ization, she  only  stopped,  she  remained  at  the  same 
point."  They  do  not  realize  how  deeply 'they  sin 
against  history  in  saying  so.  There  are,  there  can  be, 
no  standstills  in  history :  by  the  fact  that  a  nation  does 
not  advance,  she  retrogrades;  for  the  rest  of  the  world 
goes  on  and  does  not  wait  for  her.  Only  think  with 
what  gigantic  paces  human  genius  was  advancing  on 
its  way,  and  you  will  realize  how  far  behind  our  poor 
country  was  left. 

1  It  begins  with  John  the  Terrible's  chfldhood,  and  goes  as  Cu  as  1578. 
Ite  main  idea  is  that  the  terrible  Tsai  was  good  as  long  as  be  was  weD  soi* 
roanded. 


92  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

We  have  reached  the  year   1613  in  our  narration. 
What  was  this  time  in  the  rest  of  the  world?     What 
were   the   names    that    shone    on    the    other    side    of 
the   frontier?     In    England,    Shakespeare  and  Bacon; 
in    France,    Rabelais   and    Montaigne;    Descartes  was 
already  bom ;    in    Spain,    Cervantes,    Lope   de   Vega, 
Calderon  de  la  Barca ;    in  Italy,  Galileo  and  that  innu- 
merable Pleiad  of    Italian    painters,  writers,   sculptors, 
and  scientists  of  every  kind,  each  of  whom  makes  the 
glory  of  their  own  country  and  the  pride  of  the  whole 
world.     It  was  the  time  when  ever  young  antiquity,  in 
the  immaculate  beauty  of  her  Grecian  serenity,  had  lately 
arisen  from  the  Italian  soil,  and,  with  a  new  unknown 
expression  in  her  eyes,  crowned  with  mystic  flowers  of 
Christian  poetry,  had  dispersed  the  gloom  of  the  Middle 
Ages  and  lit  the  sun  of  the  "  Renaissance."     It  was  the 
time  when  the  intrepid  prows  of  European  vessels,  cleav- 
ing the  waves  of  distant  oceans,  plunged  into  new  hori- 
zons  and   landed  at  the   shores  of   virgin   continents. 
Russia  remained   in   the   background    during   all   that 
movement.     Everybody  is  not  called  at  the  same  time 
to  co-operate  in  the  great  work  of  universal  advance- 
ment.    But  if  everybody  has  not  helped  to  dig  the  well, 
to  everybody  is  given  the  right  of  drinking  the' water. 
Russia  had  to  conquer  even  that  right.     We  are  now 
about  to  examine  the  conditions  which  made  of  that 
conquest  the  most  arduous  of  all  her  conquests. 


^. 


LECTURE    IV 

(1613-1725) 

The  first  Romanovs.  Characteristic  of  the  period.  The 
Patriarch  Nikon  and  the  "  revision  of  the  texts."  Awaken* 
ing  of  critical  spirit.  Foreign  infiltration  and  inner  reaction. 
The  Court.    The  precursors. 

Peter  the  Great.  His  historical  figure.  Peter's  campaigns. 
The  reform,  its  methods,  its  spirit.  Posterity  and  contempora- 
ries. Tsarevich  Alexis.  Peter's  death.  Division  of  national 
opinion.     Intestine  polemics  on  foreign  soil. 


LECTURE   IV 

(1613-1725) 

As  to  Peter,  —  know  ye  all,  that  life  to  him  is  of  no  value  so  long 
as  Russia  lives  in  glory  and  prosperity.  —  From  the  order  of 

THE  DAY  GIVEN  TO  THE  ARMY  BEFORE  THE  BATTLE  OF  POLTAVA. 

THERE  are  in  history  individualities  whose. 
names  shine  with  such  splendour  that  they  not 
only  throw  their  light  on  subsequent  periods, 
but  seem  to  lighten  the  previous  epochs ;  events  imme- 
diately preceding  their  appearance  lose  that  independent 
value  which  all  historical  events  have  when  considered 
as  results  of  the  past,  and  acquire  in  the  eyes  of  posterity 
the  secondary  value  of  auxiliary  facts,  as  if  history  were 
endowed  with  prescience :  events  seem  not  so  much  to 
undergo  the  impulsion  of  the  past  as  to  obey  the  attrac- 
.tion  of  the  future.  One  of  these  individualities  is  Peter 
the  Great.  We  will  therefore  consider  the  times  of  the 
first  sovereigns  of  the  newly  elected  dynasty  inasmuch 
as  they  constitute  a  preparatory  epoch. 

On  the  2 1  St  of  February,  16 13,  the  interregnum  is  put 
an  end  to  by  the  election  of  Michael  Romanov.^  The 
country  got  out  of  the  "  times  of  confusion,"  but  the  effort 
it  required  to  deliver  itself  from  the  invasion  of  for- 
eigners and  from  the  gangs  of  robbers  had  exhausted 

>  On  this  event :  Ervin  Bauer,  "  Die  Wahl  Michael  Feodoroyich 
Romanov's  zum  Tsaren  von  Russland,"  in  "  Historische  Zeitichrift."  Neue 
Folge,  Band  XX. 

95 


96  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

all  its  forces;  towns  were  destroyed,  villages  burnt, 
fields  devastated ;  in  many  places  houses  were  encum- 
bered with  corpses.  The  people  worn  out,  exasperated, 
were  driven  to  the  pitch  of  desperation.  The  reigns  of 
Michael  and  his  son  Alexis  were  troubled  with  continuous 
riots,  and  it  required  a  good  deal  of  wisdom  and  care  on 
the  part  of  the  two  first  rulers  of  the  new  dynasty  to  heal 
the  nation's  wounds  under  such  conditions.  Exterior 
affairs  no  more  than  interior  allowed  the  country  to  take 
rest.  The  former  Princedom  of  Moscow  now  extended  to 
the  east  as  far  as  the  Chinese  frontier,  while  on  the  west 
the  three  capital  questions  of  its  political  life  —  the 
conquest  of  the  Baltic  shores,  the  incorporation  of  the 
old  Russian  Provinces  annexed  by  Poland  (the  so-called 
Little  Russian  question),  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Tartar 
from  the  Crimea  —  involved  her  in  a  series  of  campaigns 
against  Sweden,  Poland,  and*  Turkey.^  In  putting  to- 
gether the  duration  of  these  campaigns  led  by  Michael 
and  Alexis,  we  have  in  the  seventy  years  of  their  reigns 
thirty  years  of  war.  And  with  all  that,  so  conscientious 
was  the  work  of  these  first  Romanovs,  so  sincere  their 
efforts  to  appease  the  country,  and  so  charming  their 
personal  character,  that  the  reigns  of  Michael,  Alexis, 

1  In  these  times  we  must  look  for  the  beginning  of  the  "  Eastern 
Question."  The  first  who  formulated  the  opinion  according  to  which 
Russia's  historical  mission  was  to  deliver  the  southwestern  Slavonians 
from  the  Turkish  dominion,  was  a  certain  Krijanich,  a  Servian  who  had 
settled  in  Moscow  under  Tsar  Alexis.  (See :  Louis  Leger,  "  Nouvelles 
Etudes  Slaves."  lere  serie.  Paris,  1880.  On  the  Eastern  Question:  A.  Le- 
roy-Beaulieu,  "Politique  russe  et  panslavisme,"  in  "Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes,"  13th  December,  1876.)  The  last  important  event  in  connection 
with  the  Eastern  Question  is  the  Turkish-Russian  War  of  1877-1878,  for 
the  emancipation  of  Bulgaria.  (F.  V.  Greene.  "  Russian  Army  and  its. 
Campaigns  in  Turkey  in  1877-1878."     New  York,  1879.) 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  97 


and  his  eldest  son  Theodor  leave  in  history  the  impression 
of  what  they  wished  them  to  be,  —  an  impression  of 
peace,  of  rest,  of  benevolence.  Foreign  contemporaries 
of  Alexis  could  not  conceive  how  a  sovereign  invested 
with  absolute  power  could  never  have  attacked  any 
man's  life  or  property  or  honour.  Though  somewhat 
too  optimistic,  this  statement  of  the  German  ambassa- 
dor 1  renders  well  the  historical  colouring  of  that  period 
of  calm  contained  between  the  turbulent  vicissitudes  of 
the  interregnum,  and  the  fermentation  brought  about  by 
the  violence  of  Peter's  reform. 

In  such  an  atmosphere  arose  those  intellectual  currents 
which  were  the  precursors  of  the  great  reformatory 
wave  ;  from  this  time  dates  the  awakening  of  the  critical 
spirit  which  made  it  possible  for  the  innovations  to  take 
root  in  people's  minds.  Let  us  examine  the  soil  on 
which  this  spirit  of  criticism  broke  out,  and  the  points 
at  which  it  was  directed. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  the  clergy  and  the  monaster- 
ies were  the  depositories  of  that  narrow  Byzantine  cult- 
ure which,  still  narrowed  by  difficulties  of  translating,  was 
the  only  intellectual  food  of  the  whole  precedent  period. 
It  is  from  the  same  ecclesiastical  soil  the  critical  move- 
ment started ;  though  it  assumed  much  greater  propor- 
tions than  its  initiators  intended  to  give  it,  though  the 
promoters  themselves  were  afraid  of  the  infinity  of  the 
widening  direction  the  critical  spirit  seemed  to  inaugurate, 
it  is  nevertheless  in  the  Church  and  the  passionate  ec- 
clesiastical debates  of  this  time,  that  we  must  look  for  the 
first  germs  of  the  intellectual  and  social  reform.     The 

»  Mayerberg,  "  Iter  in  Moscoviam."  French  translaUon,  "  ReUUon 
d'un  voyage  en  Moscovie,"  Leyden,  1688,  also  in  the  "  Bibliogrmphie  Rom 
et  Polonaise."     I  and  II. 


98  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

authoritative  and  ambitious  figure  of  Patriarch  Nikon 
becomes  the  central  point  of  this  movement,  and  the 
revision  of  the  ecclesiastical  books,  the  question  which 
starts  the  fermentation. 

One  day  in  the  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption,  —  the 
largest  and  finest  among  the  numerous  churches  of  the 
Kremlin,  the  one  where,  since  John  IV,  all  tsars  and  later 
all  emperors  of  Russia  were  crowned,  —  Tsar  Alexis, 
surrounded  by  his  court  and  an  innumerable  crowd 
of  people,  threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  Metropoli- 
tan Nikon,  imploring  him  not  to  refuse  the  acceptance 
of  the  patriarchal  throne  to  which  he  had  been  elected 
by  the  council.^  This  was  in  1642.  Six  years  later,  in 
the  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption,  the  Patriarch  Nikon, 
after  having  celebrated  mass,  at  which  mass  the  Tsar 
did  not  assist,  unburdening  himself  of  the  ensigns 
of  his  rank,  declared  to  the  assisting  people  that  he 
was  no  longer  their  patriarch,  and  amidst  the  tears  and 
lamentations  of  the  crowd  walked  out  of  the  cathedral 
and  left  for  a  suburban  convent.  What  had  occurred 
in  that  six  years'  interval  ?  The  civil  and  the  ecclesias- 
tic powers  had  come  to  a  conflict ;  the  Tsar  grew  tired 
of  the  increasing  pretensions  of  the  patriarch  who, 
availing  himself  of  many  years  of  friendship  and  intel- 
lectual communion,  by  and  by  assumed  the  rank  of 
a  second  tsar,  and  called  himself  "  Lord  Great  Sover- 
eign." We  will  not  follow  the  events  of  this  dramatic 
episode  of  our  ecclesiastical  history ;  Nikon,  summoned 

1  The  metropolitan  of  Moscow  was  enthroned  patriarch  by  Jeremiah, 
patriarch  of  Constantinople  under  Theodor,  John  the  Terrible's  son,  in 
1589.  (See  Adelung,  "  Der  griechische  Patriarch  Jeremias  in  Moskwa, 
1 589."  St.  Petersburg,  1840.)  The  patriarchate  of  Russia  was  suppressed 
and  the  synod  substituted,  by  Peter  the  Great,  in  1 721. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  99 

before  an  ecclesiastical  council  composed  of  representa- 
tives of  the  Russian  clergy,  presided  over  by  the  patri- 
archs of  Alexandria  and  Antioch,*  was  declared  wrong 
in  his  behaviour,  and  forced  to  resign  for  good;  he 
spent  the  rest  of  his  days  in  a  distant  convent.*  The 
fact  interesting  to  us  is  that  among  those  measures  taken 
by  him,  which,  in  spite  of  his  condemnation,  were  ac- 
cepted and  approved  of  by  the  council,  was  the  revi- 
sion he  had  made  of  the  ecclesiastical  books. 

Thanks  to  the  continuous  process  of  copying,  mis- 
takes and  incorrectnesses  could  not  help  stealing  into  the 
texts.  So  long  as  they  were  only  manuscripts,  the  re- 
sponsibility could  always  be  charged  to  the  copyist,  but 
when  they  began  to  be  printed  by  the  ecclesiastical  press, 
the  eiTors  acquired  a  sort  of  consecration.  For  a  long 
time  past  learned  monks  from  Greece  and  from  Kiev, 
where  traditions  were  observed,  had  been  pointing  out  the 
errors  to  the  Moscovite  clergy.  Nikon  was  one  of  the 
first  to  take  real  notice  of  the  fact,  and  put  hand  to  a 
thorough  revision  of  the  books  according  to  the  Greek 
texts,  'the  necessity  was  urgent,  yet  in  some  way  it  was 
already  too  late.  A  great  part  of  the  people  would 
not  accept  the  rectifications ;  rejecting  the  Nikon  texts, 
they  clung  to  the  ancient  ones  and  produced  that  which 
is  known  as  the  "  Great  Schism"  of  the  Russian  Church. 

We  must  keep  in  mind  the  almost  dogmatic  signifi- 
cance given  to  the  letter  in  those  times  to  understand  the 
meaning  of  Nikon's  reform  and  of  its  official  acknow- 

»  The  patriarchs  of  Constantinople  and  Jerusalem  had  been  aaked  by 
the  Tsar,  but  were  deUincd  by  their  dioceaan  affairs. 

"On  Nikon:  W.  Palmer,  "The  Patriarch  and  the  T«ar."  6  rob. 
1 871- 1 876.  Interesting  deUils  of  every-day  life:  A.  Bnieckner,  "De* 
Patriarchen  Nikon  Ausgabebuch  "  in  "  Baltische  MonatMchrift,"  iv,  3,  4. 


'^^^ 


loo  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

ledgment :  it  was  the  admission  of  criticism  in  the 
domain  of  those  questions  which  till  then  were  re- 
garded as  inaccessible  to  reason.  And  in  fact  reason 
awakens,  and  the  critical  spirit  breaks  out.  Several 
schools  are  founded  in  different  convents  where  Greek 
Byzantinism  enters  into  competition  with  Latin  scholasti- 
cism. A  plan  of  an  academy  is  approved  by  Alexis' 
son,  Theodor,  and  carried  out  (1633)  under  the  regency 
of  his  sister  Sophia,  who  ruled  during  the  miriority  of 
Peter  the  Great. 

The  necessity  of  learning  imposes  itself  with  more  and 
more  urgency  on  the  minds  of  men.  That  self-belief 
which  characterizes  all  nations  who  have  lived  for  a  long 
time  without  intercourse  with  others  is  shaken,  and  self- 
criticism  raises  its  voice.  When  the  Church  herself 
gives  the  example  of  self-revision,  how  can  other  sides 
of  life  remain  in  a  continuous  "  status  quo  "  ."*  "  What  is 
imjjossible  in  Russia  !  "  exclaims  a  contemporary ;  "  any- 
thing can  be  obtained  in  a  monarchy.  Is  the  merchant 
illiterate  ?  Close  his  shop  and  keep  it  so  until  he  learns 
reading  and  writing."  The  increasing  foreign  infiltra- 
tion becomes  an  important  factor  in  this  movement. 
The  famous  "  German  Suburb  "  in  Moscow,  which  soon 
is  going  to  become  the  favourite  resort  of  Tsar  Alexis' 
son,  the  young  Prince  Peter,  rapidly  grows  and  be- 
comes a  sort  of  living  cyclopaedia  of  foreign  "  craft " 
and  "skill"  which  dazzles  and  enchants.^  Foreign 
people,  foreign  habits,  foreign  books,  become  points  of 
comparison,  and,  for  many,  examples  for  imitation.  Slight 
facts  open  new  horizons  of  foreign  superiority  and  dis- 

1  On  the  German  Suburb  and  in  general  on  foreigners  in  Russia :  A- 
Brueckner,  "  Die  Europaisirung  Russland's."  Gotha,  1888,  and  "  Cahnr- 
historische  Studien,"  ii,  Riga,  1878. 


\       \ 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  loi 


close  the  abysses  of  our  ignorance.  A  dignitary  of  the 
Church,  who  carries  on  a  Latin  correspondence  with  a 
foreign  merchant  staying  at  Archangel,  writes  to  thank 
him  for  some  Latin  books  :  ^  he  considers  them  "  Opera 
preciosissima  ...  in  quibus  quot  paginas  revolve,  tot 
fructus  colligo  "  ;  and  then  in  a  touching  access  of  very 
excusable  envy  he  adds :  "  Laudabiles  sunt  hae  reg^o- 
nes,  quae  tales  libros  vel  potius  talium  librorum  aucto- 
res  doctissimos  et  eruditissimos  producunL"*  But  all 
the  clergy  were  not  like  him,  and  a  violent  reaction 
breaks  out  in  the  sermons  of  the  time  against  the  dan- 
gers of  a  blind  imitation.  Nikon  himself,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  movement,  felt  alarmed  at  the  rapidity 
with  which  innovations  invaded  domestic  life.  With 
Savonarolian  fanaticism  he  burns  pictures,  destroys  an 
organ,  cuts  to  pieces  the  liveries  one  of  the  boyars 
has  made  for  his  servants.  If  such  were  Nikon's  feel- 
ings, you  may  imagine  what  were  the  opinions  of  those 
who  clung  to  the  ancient  texts  because  they  considered 
Nikon  too  advanced.  In  a  collection  of  spiritual  pre- 
cepts of  the  time,  we  read  the  following  terrifying  sen- 
tences :  "  Abominable  before  God  is  he  who  likes 
geometry  .  .  .  prefer  simplicity  to  wisdom ;  that  which 
is  higher  than  you  never  seek  to  explore,  that  which  is 
deeper  than  you  never  seek  to  fathom,  but  that  learn- 
ing which  comes  from  God  and  is  given  to  you  ready 
made,  that  keep  for  yourself." 

1  Dimitry,  metropolitan  of  Rostoff  (d.  1709)  to  Isaac  Van  der  Burg. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  learned  men  among  the  Russians  of  the  Ume, 
and  author  of  many  valuable  works.  In  his  library,  it  is  said,  for  the  first 
time  the  works  of  Bacon  appeared  in  Russia. 

2  "  Most  precious  works  ...  in  which  on  every  page  I  turn  I  find  some 
new  fruit.  .  .  .  Laudable  those  countries  which  produce  such  booki  oc 
rather  the  most  able  and  most  learned  authors  of  such  book*." 


I02  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 


You  see  the  violence  of  opinions  on  either  side.*  The 
struggle  began;  Russia's  future  depended  upon  the 
issue  of  the  conflict.  Which  would  be  the  stronger  of 
the  two ;  which  ideas  would  attain  pre-eminence ;  which 
would  triumph,  enlightenment  or  obscurantism?  The 
latter  held  possession  of  the  majority  of  the  country, 
the  former  of  a  slight  minority  composed  of  the  upper 
class  of  Moscow.  But  the  court  was  with  the  minority, 
Tsar  Alexis  furthered  the  new  movement,  enlightenment 
was  officially  favoured,  and  Russia's  future  was  secured. 

The  court  of  Moscow  presented  an  interesting  sight  at 
this  time.  The  Kremlin  attained  the  full  development 
of  its  architectural  beauty ;  the  typical  harmony  of  its 
configuration  was  not  yet  destroyed  by  those  modern 
superstructures  which  spoil  it  in  our  days ;  and  with  the 
gable  roofs  of  its  palaces  painted  in  checks,  with  the 
towers  of  its  white  wall  overlooking  the  river,  with 
the  golden  cupolas  of  its  churches  and  the  medley 
of  its  belfries  rising  in  the  air  and  glittering  in  the 
sunshine,  it  presented  already  in  those  times  that  same 
enchanting  spectacle  which  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
later  would  stop  Napoleon  in  his  march,  and  inter- 
rupt the  sombre  current  of  his  thought  with  a  moment 
of  aesthetical  delight.  Inside  this  Kremlin,  in  this  cita- 
del of  palaces  and  churches,  where  the  hours  of  the  day 
were  marked  by  ecclesiastical  services,  where  the  sacer- 
dotal vestments  and  the  royal  mantles  intermingled  in 

*  A  vigorous  protest  against  Moscovian  ignorance  is  presented  by  the 
work  of  G.  Kotoshikin,  "On  Russia  under  Alexis  Mikailovich."  Em- 
ployed in  the  "  Polish  Department "  of  foreign  affairs  he  was  versed  in  all 
details  of  contemporary  administration.  In  the  sixties  he  emignited  to 
Sweden,  and  there  he  wrote  his  work  (1666-1667).  It  was  known  by  a 
Swedish  translation  (1682)  until  1838,  when  Professor  Solovicff  discov- 
ered the  original  manuscript  at  the  University  of  Upsala. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  103 

the  gorgeousness  of  alternating  ritual  and  ceremonial, 
strange  things  were  taking  place  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  The  Tsar,  his  family,  his 
court,  seemed  given  over  to  a  new  kind  of  amusement : 
in  the  private  apartments  of  the  palace,  in  presence  of 
his  Majesty,  a  German  theatrical  company  gave  per- 
formances under  the  direction  of  Godfried  Gregory,  the 
Lutheran  clergyman  of  the  German  Suburb. 

In  1672,  three  days  after  the  birth  of  his  son  Peter, 
Tsar  Alexis  ordered  Gregory  to  exhibit  a  comedy.  The 
first  piece  given  was  about  Esther  and  Ahasuerus ;  then 
came  "Judith,"  "Joseph,"  "Adam  and  Eve,"  etc. ;  at 
first  in  German,  but  then  Russian  boys  were  intrusted 
to  Pastor  Gregory  to  be  taught  the  art  of  acting ; 
translations  were  made  into  Russian,  and  finally  the 
first  original  comedy  was  written  by  Simeon  of  Po- 
lotsk. This  learned  monk  was  teacher  of  the  Tsar's 
children,  and,  at  the  same  time,  something  like  the 
poet  laureate  of  the  court  His  comedy,  entitled  "The 
Prodigal  Son,"  has  been  preserved  in  a  very  inter- 
esting illustrated  edition  of  the  time.  The  author  of 
"The  Prodigal  Son"  took  an  important  part  in  this 
literary  passion  which  invaded  the  court;  his  lessons 
were  so  interesting,  so  clever,  —  sometimes  in  verse 
to  make  it  easier  for  the  memory,  —  that  the  Tsar's 
'  daughter  for  the  first  time  in  history  since  the  Tartar 
yoke,  leaves  her  maiden  apartments.  Princess  Sophia 
shares  the  benefits  of  Simeon's  lessons  with  her  eldest 
brother,  Theodor.  Later  she  becomes  herself  a  writer : 
she  composes  a  tragedy  on  Esther ;  she  is  said  to  have 
made  attempts  at  translating  Moli^re,  — at  any  rate 
Moliere's  "Physician  in  spite  of  himself"  was  repre- 
sented in  her  private  apartments. 


I04  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


A  man  who  became  a  prominent  figure  during  Princess 
Sophia's  regency  took  part  in  this  performance;  this 
was  Prince  Galitzin,  of  whom  the  Polish  envoy,  De  la 
Neuville,^  says  that  he  cherished  vast  plans  of  reform  ; 
he  was  of  a  refined  intelligence ;  and  in  his  mind  the 
necessity  of  emancipating  the  peasants,  who  had  been 
bound  to  the  soil  in  the  last  years  of  the  preceding  cen- 
tury, already  presented  itself  as  an  inevitable  condition 
of  national  prosperity.  He  can  be  taken  as  the  pre- 
cursory specimen  of  that  Russian  aristocracy  which  a 
century  later  would  swarm  round  the  throne  of  Cath- 
erine the  Great  —  refined,  intellectual,  but  idealistic  and 
with  no  deep  roots  in  practical  life. 

Another  interesting  personality  is  Ordyn  Naschokin, 
a  man  widely  different  from  Prince  Galitzin,  and  though 
of  great  universality  in  his  interests,  very  practical  in 
action  ;  he  was  the  first  Russian  diplomatist.  Involved 
in  the  hardest  difficulties  of  the  Little  Russian  and  the 
Baltic  questions,  he  gained  the  esteem  of  the  Swedish 
and  Polish  diplomatists  with  whom  he  had  to  deal.  A 
passionate  champion  of  foreign  ideas,  he  was  a  harsh 
critic  of  Moscovite  customs,  and  made  numerous  enemies 
in  society  by  his  habit  of  sacrificing  personal  considera- 
tions to  affairs.  He  was  an  ardent  advocate  of  a  Russian 
sea  and  a  Russian  fleet.2  After  his  type  will  be  shaped 
the  helpers  of  Peter  the  Great.  We  must  mention  also 
Tsar  Alexis'  intimate  friend,  Artamon  Matveyev.     His 

»  "  Relation  curieuse  et  nouvelle  de  U  Moscovie."  A  la  Haye,  1699. 
(English  translation.    London,  1699.) 

2  How  intensely  the  necessity  of  a  fleet  was  felt  in  those  days  we  may 
see  from  the  fact  that  Tsar  Alexis  asked  the  Due  of  Courland  whether  he 
would  allow  him  to  keep  a  few  vessels  in  the  port  of  Riga.  The  Due 
answered  most  sarcastically  that  the  port  of  Archangel  on  the  Polar  Sea 
would  better  suit  his  purposes  as  being  a  Russian  port. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  105 


house  was  the  gathering-place  of  the  intellectual  elemertts 
of  the  time  ;  the  "  German  Suburb  "  enjoyed  his  warmest 
sympathies,  so  that  his  enemies  called  him  "  Father  of 
the  Germans" ;  he  had  been  the  first  promoter  of  that 
theatrical  movement  of  which  we  spoke.^  In  his  house 
one  day,  Tsar  Alexis  met  a  handsome  girl,  who  impressed 
him  with  her  soft  manners  and  beautiful  black  eyes; 
this  was  the  host's  pupil,  Nathaly  Narishkin.  The  Tsar 
was  a  widower  at  that  time ;  she  became  his  wife,  and 
on  the  30th  of  May,  1672,  brought  into  the  world  a  son 
who  was  called  Peter. 

Such  was  the  atmosphere  in  which  grew  and  lived 
the  children  of  Tsar  Alexis.  Mild  and  noble  Theodor, 
who  ruled  during  six  years  after  his  father ;  the  ener- 
getic and  ambitious  Sophia,  who  succeeded,  after  Theo- 
dor's  death  in  1682,  in  being  proclaimed  regent  in  the 
name  of  her  two  brothers ;  the  delicate  and  feeble-minded 
John,  and  Theodor's  god-child  little  Peter  with  his  black 
curly  hair.2 

I  have  tried  to  picture,  as  briefly  as  possible,  this 
curious  epoch  of  gradual  intellectual  emancipation,  — 
emancipation  from  religious  fanaticism,  from  national 
exclusiveness,  from  a  servile  obedience  to  the  customs 
of  the  forefathers;  an  interesting  epoch  which* would 

1  His  son  Andrew  was  sent  by  Peter  the  Great  as  ambassador  extraor- 
dinary to  Queen  Anne  of  England,  in  1706.  On  the  night  of  the  2lft 
of  July,  1708,  he  was  assaulted  in  the  streets  of  London.  He  com- 
plained to  the  British  government;  the  affair  got  before  Parliament,  which 
on  this  occasion  passed  the  "  Act  for  preserving  the  privileges  of  ambassa- 
dors and  other  public  ministers  of  Foreign  Princes  and  States,"  sanctioned 
by  the  Queen  on  the  21st  of  April,  1 709.  The  act  passed  by  the  United 
States  Congress  on  the  30th  of  April,  1 790,  is  but  a  repetition  of  the  one 
called  forth  by  Matveyev's  "  troublesome  affair." 

2  Peter  the  Great  was  Alexis'  fourteenth  child;  only  the  above  men- 
tioned played  a  part  in  history. 


io6  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

have  counted  in  history  as  marking  a  step  of  national 
evolution  had  it  not  been  put  into  the  shade  by  the  im 
petuous  revolution  of  the  subsequent  period.     It  is  the" 
fashion  now  among  those  who  pretend  to  depreciate 
Peter  the  Great,  to  insist  upon  this  preparatory  period  • 
as  they  cannot  contest  the  importance  of  his  activity' 
they  attack  him  from  the  rear,  and  declare  that  the  whole 
reform  was  ready  marked  out  under  his  predecessors 
thus  granting  him  the  merit  of  a  conscientious  exec- 
utor, but  refusing  all  glory  of  creation.     We  have  seen 
enough  of  the  preparatory  period  to  form  an  idea  of 
what  It  was,  and  of  what  Peter  had  to  do:  it  gave  exam 
pies  of  mtellectual   awakening,    scattered  in  different 
domams  of   science,  craft,  and  trade,    unconscious   of 
heir  reciprocal  dependence,  and  incapable  of  practical 
ransfusion  from  individual  into  national  life.     Peter  had 
to  fan  these  individual  sparks  into  a  universal  flame  •  to 
mvigorate  the  scattered  instances  with  the  consci;us- 
W  the  '""l^'T"'^'  ^«  ^'i^^fy  them  by  practically  apply, 
mg  them  to  the  necessities  of  national  life,  and  to  Zi 
P  y  them  by  the  irradiating  power  of  his  own  example 
If  anyone  should  ask  us  "  How  did  he  do  it  >  "  I  eZv 

hif  li  ri      i      '  '''  ^''''  ^'''^'  ^"d  ^h-t  was  enough  ' 
wer     h7"J     ."^-'P^^'^  '''^•'  h-  learning  and  labou 

advanc    of    h?'  ^"P^^^^--^'   1^-  advance  was  the 
advance  of  the  country;  his  success  was  Russia's  suc- 

4r:::  ;::t:  ir itrr  t^ir ,  ^-^^  ^^^^-^^  -^  p- 

a  religious  worshipping  of  th^  H  .     °^^  '"  ""  "^'^  "'^°^)  f^°°> 


\^ 


\ 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  ,07 


The  lad,  who  became  the  friend  and  comrade  of  the 
artisans  of  the  "  German  Suburb,"  soon  left  childhood 
behind  him ;  the  military  tournaments  with  the  children 
of  domestics  and  boyars  are  soon  transformed ;  that 
which  was  a  plaything  becomes  a  well-disciplined  regi- 
ment;  the  coachman's  son  Alexashka^  is  the  future 
serene  highness,  Prince  Menshikov,  minister  of  war,  and 
the  future  field-marshal.  Prince  Galitzin,  is  in  the  ranks 
of  that  child-army.  The  little  boats  on  the  pond  of  the 
royal  garden  are  too  insignificant ;  arsenals  are  ran- 
sacked ;  an  old  boat  is  found  among  pieces  of  armour 
and  household  lumber,  it  is  restored  and  launched  on  the 
water ;  the  pond  is  too  small ;  Peter  leaves  for  the 
Pereiaslav  lake  and  forgets  everything  on  the  waves  of 
his  favourite  element ;  now  and  then  he  sends  a  few  hasty 
lines  to  his  mother.  "  Your  son  Peter,  abiding  in  labour, 
asks  for  your  blessing  and  wishes  to  know  of  your 
health.  As  to  us,  thanks  to  your  prayers,  things  are 
all  right.  The  lake  is  free  of  ice,  and  all  the  vessels, 
except  the  big  ship,  are  finished."  ^  "  Abiding  in  labour," 
—  from  seventeen  till  the  day  of  his  death,  that  self- 
applied  epithet  will  never  leave  him.  The  12th  of 
September,  1689,  all  plays  are  put  an  end  to ;  the  parti- 
sans of  Princess  Sophia  and  those  of  Peter's  mother  had 
come  to  a  bloody  conflict;  the  Princess  Regent,  who 
cherished  the  hope  of  being  crowned,  is  deposed  and 
relegated  to  a  convent;    Peter  and  John  remain  the 

the  misty  distance  of  ages  at  the  foundation  and  formation  of  hnman  socie- 
ties."    op.  dL  voL  xviii. 

'  Diminutive  of  Alexander. 

2  "  Letters  and  Papers  of  the  Emperor  Peter  the  Great"  Edited  by  A. 
BychkoB,  director  of  the  Imperial  Public  Library  of  St  Petenborg.  VoL  i. 
No.  6. 


io8  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

masters  of  the  place.     But  the  invalid  John  does  not 
count ;  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great  begins.^ 

It  is  impossible,  in  the  limited  time  given  to  us,  to 
represent  the  proportions  and  to  follow  up  the  entire 
course  of  his  reform ;  in  this  case  I  must  ask  for  your 
collaboration.  We  are  now  at  the  middle  of  our  task ; 
if  by  what  I  have  heretofore  said  I  have  succeeded  in 
giving  you  some  idea  of  what  the  country  was,  I  will 
ask  you  not  to  lose  memory  of  the  picture :  the  dififer- 
ence,  I  hope,  will  appear  of  itself,  and  the  contrast  will 
proclaim  the  importance  of  him  who  marks  the  division 
of  the  two  epochs.  Besides,  even  had  I  not  succeeded 
in  my  efforts,  the  mere  value  of  those  things  I  shall 
have  to  speak  of  will  be  eloquent  enough  of  itself.  I 
have  had  little  to  say  of  literature,  of  science,  of  art,  of 
social  life,  of  ramification  of  intellectual  currents,  of  frac- 
tions of  national  self-consciousness;  henceforth  I  shall 
have  to  speak  of  all  these,  and  were  I  endowed  with 
encyclopaedic  universality,  I  should  have  to  speak  of 
mining,  engineering,  trade,  manufactures,  etc.  I  will 
not  undertake  the  hard  task  of  examining  all  the  springs 
and  levers  of  the  reforms,  nevertheless  a  few  remarks 
on  its  material  side  are  necessary. 

1  On  Peter  the  Great :  A.  Brueckner,  "  Peter  der  Grosse."  Berlin,  1883. 
Schuyler,  "  Peter  the  Great."  2  vols.  London,  1884.  C  Sadler,  "  Peter 
der  Grosse  als  Mensch  und  Regent."  St.  Petersburg,  1872.  On  the 
epoch:  A.  Brueckner,  "Iwan  Possoschkow.  Ideen  und  Zustande  in 
Russland  zur  Zeit  Peter's  des  Grossen."  Leipzig,  1878.  Bantysh-Ka- 
mensky,  "Age  of  Peter  the  Great."  London,  1851.  The  first  reallv 
scientific  work  in  Russian  on  Peter  the  Great  is  Oustrialov's  monumental 
"  History  of  Peter  the  Great's  Reign."  5  vols.  St.  Petersburg,  185&- 
1863.  Valuable  documents  in :  "  Monuments  historiques  relatifs  au  regne 
d'Alexis  Michaelovitch,  Feodor  III  et  Pierre  le  Grand.  Czars  de  Russie, 
extraits  des  archives  du  Vatican  et  de  Naples."  Par  A.  Theiner.  Rome, 
Imprimerie  du  Vatican,  1859. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  109 

That  which  makes  Peter's  reform  so  difficult  to  grasp, 
is  just  that  simultaneousness  of  which  we  spoke  awhile 
ago  ;  it  seems  to  lack  system  and  plan  ;  everything  is  put 
in  movement  at  the  same  time.  One  main  idea  can 
indeed  be  traced  in  every  single  act  of  his;  it  is  the 
increase  of  the  country's  wealth ;  all  which  does  not 
directly  aim  at  that  is  either  a  means  or  a  necessary 
consequence.  One  of  these  means  was  war ;  it  was  an 
expensive  one,  but  the  compensations  expected  were 
greater  than  the  sacrifices.  The  campaigns  of  Peter  the 
Great  have  a  character  of  their  own.  It  is  never  for  a 
diplomatic  reason  or  by  voracity  for  adjacent  territory 
that  they  are  undertaken,  —  you  always  feel  the  practical 
aim  at  the  end.  They  are  not  vast,  the  territories  for 
which  he  fights,  but  they  are  the  port  of  Azov,  as  en- 
trance to  the  Black  Sea,^  Derbent  on  the  Caspian,  and 
the  shores  of  the  Baltic.  And  the  process  of  war  itself, 
how  different  it  appears !  It  quite  loses  the  character  of 
national  calamity,  of  disaster.  Those  healthy,  vigorous 
regiments  in  newly  adopted  foreign  uniforms,  taught  by 
foreign  under-officers,  but  led  by  Russian  generals,  seem 
to  start  for  a  match ;  a  defeat  is  never  a  non-success,  — 
it  is  another  lesson  learnt,  and  the  profit  of  the  lesson 
never  fails  to  materialize. 

The  first  campaign  against  Azov  was  gained  by  the 
Turks.  With  the  energy  of  a  man  knowing  where  his 
fault  lies  and  how  to  repair  it,  Peter  rushes  into  the  for- 
ests of  Varonesh  ;  twenty-six  thousand  carpenters  are  set 
on  foot ;  the  Tsar  presides  over  the  work  ;  a  fleet  is  being 
built.  "  According  to  God's  commandment  given  to  our 
forefather  Adam,"  he  writes,  "  in  the  sweat  of  our  brow, 

1  He  had  to  cede  it  back  to  Turkey  after  an  unsuccessful  campaign  in 
1711. 


no  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 

we  eat  our  bread."  Between  November  and  the  next 
spring  the  fleet  is  constructed  ;  the  vessels  sent  down  the 
Don  appear  before  Azov,  the  port  is  taken  —  the  lesson 
had  been  of  profit. 

The  first  conflict  with  Charles  XII  of  Sweden,  which 
opens  the  famous  "  Northern  War,"  brings  the  dreadful 
defeat  of  Narva  with  the  loss  of  the  whole  artillery  — 
another  lesson.  Everything  is  set  on  foot  this  time  :  men, 
women,  monks,  priests,  work  by  order  of  the  Tsar  for 
the  equipment  and  arming  of  the  soldiers ;  new  foun- 
dries work  day  and  night,  church-bells  are  melted  down  ; 
in  sixteen  months'  time  three  hundred  guns  are  ready. 
The  future  field-marshal  Sheremetiev  takes  the  com- 
mand and  marches  from  success  to  success ;  Swedish 
banners  sent  to  Moscow  wave  in  the  Kremlin.  Peter 
leaves  for  the  North ;  with  his  new  artillery,  he  takes  a 
fortress  on  the  Neva,  which,  with  that  rage  for  German 
names  which  at  that  time  invades  the  national  vocabu- 
lary, he  calls  Schlusselburg ;  with  sixty  cutters  he  rows 
down  the  Neva  to  explore  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Sud- 
denly three  Swedish  men-of-war  appear;  there  is  a 
fight,  the  three  vessels  are  captured,  the  first  naval 
battle  is  gained,  the  dream  of  the  forefathers  is  fulfilled ; 
that  country,  which,  during  centuries,  had  been  longing 
for  water,  at  last  quenches  her  continental  thirst. 

On  the  i6th  of  May  Peter  goes  ashore ;  a  few  wooden 
houses  are  rapidly  put  together,  he  orders  it  to  be  a  town, 
a  seaport ;  he  calls  it  St.  Petersburg  and  leaves  for  the 
South ;  the  Turkish  frontier  required  his  presence.  But 
the  great  struggle  with  Sweden  is  not  finished ;  another 
terrible  but  inevitable  conflict  had  to  come ;  it  came  on 
the  27th  of  June,  1709,  near  Poltava;  the  "Northern 
War  "  had  its  culminating  point  in  the  southwest.     The 


AND   RUSSIAN    LITERATURE  m 

armies  met  at  four  in  the  morning ;  at  eleven  the  Swedes 
were  crushed  and  put  to  flight;  Charles  XII,  the  Swed- 
ish hero,  wounded  and  carried  on  a  litter,  just  escaped 
captivity.  When,  a  hundred  years  later.  Napoleon  I, 
with  his  arrogant  belief  in  his  star,  shall  ask  the  envoy 
of  Alexander  I,  "  What  is  the  shortest  way  to  get 
to  Moscow  ?  "  —  Balashov  will  answer  with  courtesy, 
"There  are  several  ways,  Your  Majesty,  —  Charles 
XII  chose  the  way  of  Poltava."  From  that  day  the 
curtain  rises  before  Europe,  and  Russia  enters  the 
scene  of  universal  history.  But  Peter  takes  the  matter 
from  another  side :  *'  The  opposing  army,"  he  writes, 
"  has  met  the  fate  of  Phaeton.  To-day,  definitely, 
a  stone  has  been  laid  in  St.  Petersburg's  founda- 
tion with  the  help  of  God."  Always  the  practical  end.* 
Those  who  may  take  the  trouble  of  studying  Peter 
the  Great's  campaigns  will  see  how  little  credit  is  de- 
served by  that  famous  document  known  as  the  "  Will  of 
Peter  the  Great,"  in  which  he  is  represented  as  entreat- 
ing his  successors  never  to  abandon  the  idea  of  conquer- 
ing the  world.  This  document,  which  is  said  by  some 
critics  to  have  been  forged  by  order  of  Napoleon,  when 
he  raised  all  Europe  against  Russia,'^  is  just  the  contrary 
of  the  reformer's  views  on  the  sense  of  war.  But "  habent 
sua   fata   libel li  "  —  people   who    know   nothing  about 

»  VolUire  in  his  "  History  of  Peter  the  Great,"  which  has  no  scientific 
value,  has  well  struck  the  characteristic  note  of  Peter's  campaigns  when 
he  says  that  the  battle  of  Poltava  was  the  only  one  in  universal  history  which 
had  not  a  destructive  but  a  constructive  significance. 

2  Bergholz,  "  Napoleon  1,  auteur  du  testament  de  Pierre  le  Grand." 
Brussels,  1863.  Others  attribute  to  Napoleon  only  the  publishing  and 
spreading  of  the  document.  Some  think  the  chevalier  D'Eon,  secret  agent 
of  Louis  XV,  at  the  court  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth  to  be  its  author.  (On 
this  carious  personage :  Gaillardet,  "  Memoire  sur  la  chevaliire  d'Eon.") 


112  PICTURES  OF   RUSSIAN    HISTORY 

Russian  history  know  the  "Will  of  Peter  the  Great," 
and  it  was  the  first  thing  I  was  asked  about  when  I 
reached  Japan ;  English  political  pamphlets  had  taken 
the  trouble  of  spreading  it  in  the  Empire  of  the  Rising 
Sun.  But  then  why  that  extension  to  the  Pacific,  people 
will  ask  ?  We  will  answer  that  question  by  and  by. 
Now  Peter  the  Great  is  waiting,  or  rather  he  is  not; 
his  walking  pace  in  life  was  such  that  people  had  to 
run  in  order  to  keep  up  with  him;  his  historical  pace 
is  as  rapid  and  hasty. 

We  have  seen  that  his  campaigns  had  the  object 
of  increasing  the  commercial  contact  of  his  people 
with  other  nations  by  extending  its  maritime  frontiers.^ 
What  an  effort  it  must  have  required  to  carry  out  the 
plan,  can  be  gathered  from  the  following  figures.  On 
his  accession  Peter  inherited  from  his  predecessor  an 
undisciplined  and  badly  provided  military  force  of  about 
200,000  men;  at  his  death,  in  1725,  he  left  a  regular 
army  of  200,000  and  an  irregular  one  of  100,000  men; 
a  fleet  of  48  ships  of  the  line  and  800  small  vessels, 
with  a  crew  of  30,000  men  and  9000  guns.  And  in 
spite  of  that  the  income  which  in  1710  was  three  and 
one-half  millions  of  roubles  increased  towards  1725 
to  ten  millions; 2  before  Peter  the  silver  money  was 
scarcely  half  a  million,  under  Peter  it  reached  over  five 
millions.^ 

Thus  war  was  a  means  of   learning  and  enriching, 

^  In  1722,  one  hundred  and  sixteen  ships  arrived  at  St  Petersburg.  In 
1724,  two  hundred  and  forty. 

2  The  relation  of  the  rouble  of  that  time  to  the  actual  rouble  (J  dollar) 
is  of  9  to  I. 

«On  Russian  numismatics:  Krug,  "Zur  Munzenkunde  Russlands." 
St.  Petersburg,  1805.  A.  Brueckner,  «'  Das  Kupfergeld  (1656-1663)  in 
Russland."     Riga,  1863.     Chandoir,  "  Monnaies  Russes." 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  113 


but  there  were  also  immediate  measures  directed  to  the 
increase  of  national  wealth.  Peter  not  only  sets  his  peo- 
ple in  movement,  he  awakes  the  soil  of  the  country,  he 
shakes  the  slumbering  earth  ;  iron,  coal,  naphtha,  —  all 
the  natural  resources,  —  are  simultaneously  grasped  at  in 
different  parts  of  the  country,  "in  order,"  says  one  of  his 
decrees,  "  that  God's  blessing  should  not  remain  useless 
under  the  earth."  A  system  of  canals  is  undertaken 
by  which  the  Neva  is  united  to  the  Volga,  the  Baltic  to 
the  Caspian ;  ^  two  hundred  and  fifty  manufactures  are 
opened  in  a  few  years ;  privileges  of  all  kinds  are  granted 
in  order  to  further  collective  commercial  enterprises 
and  to  allure  foreign  dealers ;  but  in  order  that  the 
foreign  element  should  not  overbalance  in  the  scale 
of  national  economy,  Russian  students  are  constantly 
sent  abroad ;  Russians  learn  from  foreigners,  but  they 
always  keep  their  rank,  they  are  pupils  —  never  pas- 
sive organs.  Russian  soldiers  were  trained  by  German 
and  Swedish  under-officers  ;  but  the  battles  in  which  the 
Swedes  had  been  defeated  were  gained  by  Russian  gen- 
erals. The  lad  who  began  his  practical  education  in 
the  German  Suburb,  dazzled  by  the  superiority  of  Dutch 
and  German  carpenters,  was  an  obedient  pupil  and  an 
enraptured  friend  of  the  Swiss  Lefort,  the  bankrupt 
merchant  from  Geneva  who  related  such  wonderful 
stories  about  foreign  countries,^  and  of  the  Dutch  Tim- 
merman  who  was  the  first  to  show  him  the  use  of  the 
astrolabe. 

J  On  Peter's  canalization-works:  Wittenheim,  "  Ueber  Russlandi  Wai- 
serverbindungen."  Mitau  and  Leipzig,  1842.  Stuckenberg,  "  Bcschrei- 
bung  aller  in  Russischen  Rciche  gegrabencn  oder  projecticrten  KanSle." 
St.  Petersburg,  184 1. 

2  Dr.  Moritz  Posselt,  "  Der  General  und  Admiral  Frani  Lefort     Sein 
Leben  und  seine  ZciL"     2  B.     Frankfort-on-the-Main,  1866. 
I 


114  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

But  he  goes  abroad,^  he  becomes  himself  a  hand- 
worker, he  works  in  the  docks  of  Saardam  and  Dept- 
ford,  and  when  he  returns  home  with  the  superiority 
of  a  monarch,  who  can  with  his  own  hands  build  a 
ship  even  to  its  slightest  detail,  his  former  friends,  who 
had  exercised  an  influence,  so  long  as  they  held  his 
young  imagination,  lose  all  importance.  That  sover- 
eign, who  is  so  much  accused  by  the  so-called  national 
party  for  his  propensity  to  foreigners,  leaves  the  state 
affairs  at  his  death  exclusively  in  Russian  hands.  Rus- 
sian students  come  back,  and  new  schools  are  founded 
—  always  with  the  same  practical  purpose.  Till  this 
time  schools  had  been  a  sort  of  appendix  to  monas- 
teries, the  instruction  given  took  no  account  of  the 
variety  of  life's  exigencies,  it  was  the  same  for  every- 
one and  consisted,  in  addition  to  primitive  notions  of 
writing  and  reading,  in  moral  teaching  aiming  at  the 
salvation  of  the  soul.  "  But  I  want  schools,"  exclaims 
Peter,  impatiently,  in  a  conversation  with  Patriarch  Ha- 
drian, "  schools  that  shall  prepare  people  for  all  neces- 
sities, for  civil  and  military  service,  including  the  arts 
of  building,  of  medicine."  In  all  elementary  schools, 
under  the  supervision  of  the  provincial  clergy,  arith- 
metic and  geometry  were  introduced.  Then  came  a 
sort  of  high  schools,  of  the  classical  type,  with  Greek 
and  Latin  ;  others  with  mathematics,  German,  or  French. 
Moreover,  special  technical  schools  are  founded  :  in  Mos- 
cow, a  medical  school  attached  to  the  hospital  2  and  a 

1  See  Macaulay's  opinion  on  Peter's  journey,  which  he  considers  an 
epoch  not  only  in  Russian,  or  even  in  European,  but  in  universal  history. 
"  History  of  England,"  chap,  ix,  p.  84. 

2  On  medicine  in  Russia  before  the  nineteenth  century:  Richter,"Ge- 
schichte  der  Medicin  in  Russland."     Moscow,  1813-1817. 


A. 


AND  RUSSIAN    LITERATURE  115 

"  School  of  Navigation  "  ^ ;  in  Petersburg,  a  naval  acad> 
emy  and  an  engineering  school. 

The  institution  of  the  Senate  in  171 1  is  an  impprtant 
act  which    had   been   practically  suggested  by  Peter's 
frequent  absences ;  it  was  the  highest  juridical  instance, 
and  it  had  supervision  over  all  governmental  functions. 
The  sp-called  "  Colleagues  "  (collegium)  became  some- 
thing like  our  ministries ;  they  were  ten  in  number,  and 
their  institution  is  due  to  the  suggestion  of  Leibnitz.    In 
the  following  emphatic  terms  the  famous  German  philos- 
opher explains  their  object :  "  As  in  a  watch,  one  wheel 
puts  in  movement  the  other,  just  so  in  the  great  govern- 
mental mechanism,  one  *  collegium  '  furthers  the  activity 
of  another,  and  when  all  shall  be  in  absolute  proportion 
and  perfect  harmony,  then  the  watch  hand  of  wisdom 
will  mark  for  the  country  hours  of  prosperity."     Surely 
the   author  of  the  "  Pre-established  Harmony "  knew 
what  he  meant,  and  was  actuated  by  a  touching  con- 
fidence in  the  beneficency  of  his  advice;  but  no  less 
touching  is  the  confidence  of  that  sovereign,  a  hand- 
worker in  the  practice  of  government,  who  expects  to 
get  help  from  the  abstractions  of  speculative  philoso- 
phy .2     The  "  collegia  "  concentrated  the  military,  finan- 
cial, and  other  affairs  concerning  the  general  wealth 
of  the  country;   the  towns  were  entrusted  with  local 
self-government,  the  land  was  divided   into  provinces 
or  "governments"  under  the  supervision   of   govern- 
ors.    None  of  these  institutions  was  subordinate  to  any 

1  One  of  the  professors  of  that  school  was  Magnitsky,  the  author  of  the 
"Arithmetic,"  the  first  Russian  scientific  raanual  (1703). 

2  See  M.  Posselt,  "  Peter  dcr  Grosse  und  Leibnitz."  Dorpat  and  Mot- 
cow.  1843.  W.  Guerrier,  "  LeibniU  in  seinen  Beziehungen  n  RnMland 
und  Peter  dem  Grosse."     St.  Petersburg  and  Leipzig,  1873. 


ii6  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 

other,  but  all  depended  directly  upon  the  Senate.  Thus 
the  administrative  mechanism  established  by  Peter  the 
Great  presented  not  an  hierarchical  scale,  but  a  circle 
of  institutions  grouping  themselves  around  the  Senate, 
the  plural  representative  of  the  individual  monarchical 
power. 

The  same  practical  interest  which  underlay  every 
measure  of  his,  determined  the  new  basis  on  which 
the  governmental  taxes  were  established.  Formerly 
the  tithed  land  was  taxed ;  this  had  the  ill  result  of 
leading  the  peasants  to  diminish  the  quantity  of  culti- 
vated soil.  In  the  seventeenth  century  the  land  was 
relieved  from  tithes,  and  the  tax  transferred  to  the 
farms ;  but  then,  in  order  to  diminish  their  payments, 
as  many  peasants  as  possible  gathered  on  the  same 
farm.  Peter  the  Great  then  introduced  the  capitation  or 
so-called  "  soil-tax  "  ;  ^  every  man  had  to  pay  for  himself, 
and  as  the  quantity  of  cultivated  land  had  no  influence 
on  the  proportion  of  the  tax,  the  working  force  of  the 
country  was  restored  to  the  soil. 

The  military  reform  was  a  most  important  act. 
Before  Peter  the  Great,  the  nobility  had  to  provide 
for  the  supply  of  military  forces,  somewhat  as  under 
the  feudal  system  in  Western  Europe.^  Under  Peter  the 
Great  the  recruiting  of  the  army  becomes  one  of  the  func- 
tions of  the  government,  and  the  nobility  is  put  on  the 
same  level  as  other  classes.  Thus  the  intermediate  period 
between  the  decay  of  feudalism  and  the  introduction 
of   a  regular  conscription,  which  in  western  countries 

^  Inanimate  things  in  Russian  are  counted  by  "  pieces,"  cattle  by 
"  heads,"  human  beings  by  "  souls." 

*  On  ancient  Russian  military  organization :  Brix,  "  Geschichte  der  alten 
russischen  Heereseinricbtungen."     Berlin,  1867. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  xi? 

brought  forth  the  irregularities  of  the  so-called  "  violent 
enrolment,"  was  unknown  in  Russia.  Whereas  in  Aus- 
tria, as  late  as  1818,  a  decree  was  issued  forbidding 
churches  to  be  used  as  traps  for  recruiting  soldiers,* 
in  Russia,  thanks  to  Peter's  reform,  a  regular  system 
of  conscription  is  established  as  early  as  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century.** 

Such  were  in  brief  the  measures,  or  rather  such 
was  the  direction  of  those  innumerable  measures,  taken 
by  Peter  the  Great,  which  followed  one  another  with 
confusing  rapidity  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  while 
the  struggle  for  the  seashores  was  going  on  on  the 
frontiers. 

In  1 72 1  the  last  act  of  the  Northern  War  was  accom- 
plished ;  it  was  the  peace  of  Neistadt,  by  which  the  whole 
southern  literal  of  the  Baltic  from  St.  Petersburg  down 
to  the  frontier  of  the  Courland  Duchy  and  a  part  of 
Finland  were  ceded  to  Russia.  Peter  the  Great  made 
his  entry  into  the  young  city  which  was  not  yet  the 
capital,  but  already  the  favourite  of  the  sovereign,  who 
called  it  "  my  paradise."  ^  The  senators  and  ministers 
were  waiting  with  impatience  for  his  return.  On  the 
22d  of  October,  in  the  Trinity  Church,  in  presence  of 
the  Tsar,  the  text  of  the  peace  treaty  was  read  to  the 
people ;  after  the  reading,  Chancellor  Golovkin,  at  the 
head  of  the  Senate,  advanced,  and  in  the  name  of 
the  country  begged  the  Tsar  to  accept  the  title  of  Em- 

»  Meinert,  "  Geschichte  des  Kricgswescns,"  quoted  by  A.  Rediger. 
"  Recruitment  and  Organization  of  Military  Force."  St  Petersburg,  189a 
(Russian). 

2  On  military  service  in  Russia :  A.  Leroy-Beaulieu  in  "  Revue  des  Deux 

Mondes."     June  i,  1877.  ^^ 

»  See  Reimers,  "  Petersburg  am  Ende  seines  eistcn  Jahrhunderts."     St. 

Petersburg,  1805. 


ii8  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

peror  and  "  father  of  the  fatherland,  for  having  brought 
us  from  non-existence  into  existence." 

Such  was  the  worker ;  such  the  work.^  In  our  rapid 
sketch  we  have  pictured  them  as  they  present  themselves 
to  posterity ;  but  how  did  contemporaries  accept  them  ? 
We  have  seen  that  his  immediate  collaborators  offered 
him  the  title  of  Emperor,  and  there  is  evidence  to 
show  that  they  had  a  keen  insight  into  the  significance 
of  the  events  of  contemporary  history,  and  a  great 
power  of  synthetical  appreciation.  But  the  rest }  The 
rest,  the  great  majority,  scarcely  understood  anything, 
and  we  must  say  that  a  great  part  of  the  fault  lay  in 
the  methods  with  which  the  reform  was  carried  out,  and 
in  some  respects  even  in  the  reform  itself.  The  fact 
that  no  well-established  programme  was  set  before  the 
people,  left  the  masses  in  the  dark  as  to  the  aim  of 
that  which  was  going  on  under  their  eyes.  The  official 
gazette,  published  by  Peter's  order,  registered  facts, 
spoke  of  methods,  but  maintained  no  system,  insisted 
upon  no  plan.  This  absence  of  well-understood  aim 
deprived  the  Tsar's  activity  of  all  creative  element. 
The  people  saw  the  destruction  of  the  old  order,  but 
the  new  escaped  their  comprehension  ;  and  things  were 
too  deeply  rooted  for  their  extraction  not  to  hurt  The 
reform  was  practical,  it  aimed  at  material  prosperity,  — 
people  could  not  help  acknowledging  that ;  but  it  was  too 
practical,  it  was  nothing  but  practical ;  and  this  was  the 
inner  germ  of  the  hindrance  to  its  wide  acceptance.    To 

'  On  Peter's  reform  a  contemporary  book  by  the  Brunswick  resident  at 
St.  Petersburg:  Weber,  "Das  veranderte  Russland."  Frankfort,  1721. 
English  translation.  London,  1723.  On  "contemporary"  works  about 
Russia:  Hermann,  " Zeitgenossische  Berichte  zur  Geschichte  Rnsslands." 
Leipzig,  1872. 


^ 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  119 


make  people  accept  a  practical  reform,  it  is  not  enough 
to  show  single  examples  of  its  application ;  you  must 
bring  them  to  believe  in  the  continuousness  of  its  benefi- 
cent result  and  in  the  superiority  of  the  principle  in  the 
name  of  which  the  reform  is  efifected.  But  to  make 
people  believe  whatever  it  may  be,  you  must  touch  the 
spirit,  the  soul ;  practical  teaching  alone  is  insufficient, 
—  a  moral  educational  element  is  needed,  and  this  was 
absent  in  the  didactic  side  of  Peter  the  Great's  activity. 
Now  we  bjelieve  in  him,  for  we  have  acquired  that  moral 
education  which  he  neglected  for  what  he  considered 
of  more  urgent  importance ;  and,  enriched  with  that 
moral  education,  we  now  judge  his  work  and  approve 
of  it,  for  we  fill  up  its  one-sidedness  with  what  has  been 
learned  in  later  years ;  but  in  his  time  only  those  few 
who  were  already  educated,  or  who  were  endowed  with 
extraordinary  natural  gifts,  could  understand  him,  and 
these  did  believe  in  him.  The  customs,  opinions,  creeds 
of  the  people  were  hurt  at  every  innovation.  The 
compulsory  shaving,  the  so-called  "German  dress,"* 
the  new  chronology  beginning  with  Christ's  birth  in- 
stead of  the  creation  of  the  world,  the  new  year  begin- 
ning in  January  instead  of  September,  the  compulsory 
participation  of  women  in  social  gayeties,^  only  educa- 
tion could  reconcile  people  to  such  arbitrary  changes, 
but  education  is  a  slow  process. 

It  is  easy  for  us  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century 
to  criticise  what  he  was  doing  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth.     What  could  Peter  do  in  the  short  space  of 


1  A.  Bnieckner,  "  Bilder  aus  der  Russischen  Vergangenheit."     Leipng, 

«  On  the  customs  of  the  time,  «  contemporary  t 
German,  in  "  Buescbing't  Magazin."    XIX-XXIL 


1887. 

«  On  the  customs  of  the  time,  a  contemporary  book :  Bergholz't  diary. 


I20  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

a  man's  life  ?  How  was  it  possible  to  educate  a  grown-up 
generation  ?  Instead  of  losing  time  in  educating  them, 
he  ordered  them  to  act  as  if  they  were  educated  people. 
Some  obeyed,  others  grumbled,  and  there  were  those 
who  under  simulated  obedience  concealed  active  opposi- 
tion. During  his  whole  life  Peter  had  to  work  under 
the  constant  threat  of  hostile  elements,  creeping  out 
like  reptiles  from  the  clefts  of  the  old  edifice.  And 
the  darkest  plot  of  reaction  he  found  in  his  own  family. 

Alexis,  the  son  of  his  first  wife  Eudoxia  Lopouhin, 
inherited  from  his  mother  a  hatred  for  Peter's  innova- 
tions. From  the  cell  of  the  convent  to  which  she  had 
been  relegated,  she  never  ceased  instigating  him;  but  he 
needed  no  instigating.  He  confesses  to  the  priest  that 
he  hates  his  father,  and  that  often  he  happens  to  form 
the  wish  his  father  were  dead.  "  God  will  forgive  you," 
answers  the  priest;  "we  all  wish  the  same  thing."  ^ 
Terrible,  tragic  —  the  whisper  of  this  double  confession 
overheard  by  history.  One  day  the  father  learns  all. 
Alexis  flees ;  he  is  pursued,  but  he  escapes.  In  Italy, 
at  Naples,  in  sight  of  the  beautiful  bay,  he  spends 
his  last  hour  of  liberty.  He  was  hunted  down  and 
brought  back.  A  supreme  court  was  appointed  to  judge 
him ;  he  was  condemned  to  death.  "  But  the  condemna- 
tion," adds  official  history  of  the  time,  "  could  not  be 
carried  out,  for  on  that  very  night  the  Tsarevitch  died  in 
his  prison." 

Constantine  the  Great  had  executed  his  son  Crispus; 
Frederick  the  Great  narrowly  escaped  being  executed 
by  his  father.  Family  tragedies  are  the  sombrest  as- 
pects of  human  life,  but  they  are  like  eclipses  of  the  sun 
when  they  occur  on  the  throne.     Fortunately  eclipses  are 

*  S.  Solovieff,  "Public  Lectures  on  Peter  the  Great"  (Russian). 


^ 


AND   RUSSIAN    LITERATURE  131 


but  for  the  moment.  What  would  have  happened  had 
Tsarevitch  Alexis  succeeded  Peter  the  Great?  History 
is  mysterious  and  profound  enough  as  it  is,  to  prevent 
us  from  scrutinizing  the  abyss  of  probabilities.  Great 
characters  have  great  sufferings.  What  greater  suffer- 
ing can  we  imagine  for  a  man  than  to  see  the  gigantic 
work  of  his  life  undermined  and  compromised  by  his 
own  son  ?  What  a  refined  combination  of  cruelty  des- 
tiny displayed  by  embodying  the  gloom  of  ignorance, 
the  resistance  of  prejudice,  and  the  immovability  of 
centuries  in  that  one  individual  who,  by  the  fact  of  his 
birth,  could  strike  at  the  same  time  the  heart  of  the 
sovereign  and  the  heart  of  the  father !  Peter  sufifered. 
Who  is  the  man  who  can  find  in  his  own  soul  such  a  com- 
plexity of  feelings  as  might  measure  f/tat  suffering.'  "I 
suffer,"  he  writes,  "and  all  for  my  fatherland.  Hard  is 
it  to  discern  my  innocence  for  him  who  does  not  know 
the  whole  of  this  affair.  God  sees  the  truth."  Alexis 
left  a  wife,  a  German  by  birth.  Princess  Sophia  of 
Blankenstein,^  and  an  infant  son,  the  future  Peter  H.' 

Moral  torment  and  physical  exertion  had  undermined 
Peter's  health.  Full-blooded  and  vigorous,  of  a  preter- 
natural strength,  the  gr6at  worker  "  abiding  in  labour  " 
had  to  succumb  to  his  own  work.  We  have  had  a  look 
into  this  work,  and  have  seen  that  feverish  activity,  the 
mere  recital  of  which  is  enough  to  take  away  one's 
breath.  But  we  cannot  form  an  idea  of  the  whirlwind  of 
Peter's  life.    He  was  always  either  leaving  or  returning ; 

1  See  Guerrier,  "  Die  Kronprincessin  Scharlotte  von  Ruuknd."  Bonn, 
1875. 

»  See  A.  Brucckner,"  Der  Zarevitsch  Alexis  (1690-1719)."  Heidelberg, 
1880.  E.  Hermann,  "  Peter  der  Grosse  und  der  Zarevich  Alexis."  Leip- 
zig, 1880.     V««  de  Vogue,  "  Le  fils  de  Pierre  le  Grand."     Paris,  1884. 


122  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 

from  Astrachan  to  Archangel,  from  the  Baltic  to  the 
Caucasus,  he  was  in  all  comers  of  his  land,  and  his  con- 
tinuous writing,  his  never-ceasing  decrees,  spreading 
through  the  country,  and  penetrating  into  the  slightest 
details  of  practical  life,  made  him  omnipresent  at  every 
hour  of  his  reign.  His  absences  were  perhaps  more  ter- 
rible than  his  presence,  for  they  preceded  his  returns, 
and  Heaven  knows  what  a  return  of  Peter  the  Great 
meant  for  his  ministers  and  senators.  When  seeing  him 
off  on  one  of  his  campaigns  the  Senate  asked  him  for  his 
orders :  "  I  told  you  not  to  sleep,"  he  answered ;  "  and  I  re- 
peat, don't  sleep,  and  once  again,  don't  sleep."  And  all  his 
life  he  was  acting  as  if  people  were  snoring  round  him ; 
he  was  constantly  wakening  them  and  shaking  them  up. 
How  did  he  manage  to  find  time  amidst  this  activity  for 
verifying  the  translations  of  foreign  technical  manuals 
which  were  being  made  by  his  order  .^  He  scolds  a  man 
for  having  translated  too  literally  a  German  manual  of  for- 
tification: ;'  Enough,  if  you  grasp  the  sense,"  he  writes; 
"  but  then  put  it  into  our  language  so  that  it  may  read  as 
intelligibly  as  possible."  During  thirty-six  years  the 
whole  country  was  on  the  go  ;  towards  the  end  people 
began  to  feel  tired ;  a  sort  of  relaxation  followed  Peter's 
death;  the  workers  took  rest,  yet  the  work  stood  firm, 
—  it  cannot  perish,  and  this  is  perhaps  the  greatest 
test  of  the  enormousness  of  his  effort,  that  he  made  it 
impossible  for  the  country  to  turn  back. 

In  November,  1725,  Peter  was  yachting  on  the  Neva, 
when  he  saw  a  boat  which  had  just  run  aground;  he 
hastened  to  save  the  people,  spent  the  whole  afternoon  in 
the  water,  caught  cold  and  did  not  recover.  In  the  rush 
of  his  life  he  probably  seldom  thought  of  death  ;  on  his 
dying  bed  he  asked  for  pen  and  paper.     He  began  to 


I 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  123 


write,  but  the  hand  obeyed  no  more.  Of  all  he  wrote 
two  words  only  could  be  made  out:  "give  every- 
thing." 1  In  his  funeral  oration,  Theophan  Prokopovich, 
archbishop  of  Novgorod,*  one  of  the  most  ardent  adhe- 
rents of  the  reform  and  its  untiring  commentator  in 
the  pulpit,^  said  these  memorable  words :  "  Though  he 
abandoned  us  through  the  destruction  of  his  body,  in 
departing,  he  left  us  his  spirit." 

Peter's  wife,  Martha  Skavronsky,  was  the  pupil  of  a 
Lithuanian  clergyman ;  first,  housemaid  of  Prince  Men- 
schikov,  then  the  Tsar's  wife,  and  after  his  death  Em- 
press Catherine  I.  Simple,  illiterate,  but  bright  and 
lively,  she  suited  Peter's  character;  she  kept  up  to  his 
pace ;  she  followed  him  in  his  campaigns.  She  pre- 
sented him  with  two  daughters :  Elizabeth,  who  reigned 
from  1742  to  1762;  and  Anna,  who  married  Charles 
Frederick,  Prince  of  Holstein,  and  became  mother  of 
the  future  Peter  III,  husband  of  Catherine  the  Great 

Few  questions  in  history  have  been  made  the  ob- 
ject of  such  contestation  as  the  value  of  Peter  the 
Great's  reform.  That  double  impression  which  it  made 
on  his  contemporaries  divides  the  opinion  of  posterity 
into  two  adverse  currents;  still  with  the  difference  that 
among  Peter's  contemporaries  only  the  ignorant  raised 

1  Is  it  on  these  two  words  the  authors  of  "  Peter  the  Great's  Will "  have 
based  that  document,  the  whole  sense  of  which  means, "  take  everything  "? 

2  He  was  Peter's  helper  in  the  reorganization  of  the  church  administra- 
tion. His  biography  by  Bayer  (?)  in  Scherer's  " Nordische  Nebenstnn- 
den."  Frankfort  and  Leipzig,  1776.  A  few  details  on  Peter's  views  on 
church  questions  in  «  La  Sorbonne  et  la  Russie  (l7l7-«747)-"  P*™» 
1882,  by  P.  Pierling,  S.J. 

»  "  Theophan  Prokopovich  was  the  first  represenUtive  of  the  new  ten- 
dency —  the  secularization  of  Russian  thoughtr  P.  Morozov,  ••  Theophan 
Prokopovich  as  a  Writer."    St  Petersburg.  1888  (RuMiaii). 


124  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

their  voices  against  the  reform,  reviled  the  reformer, 
and  even  called  him  anti-Christ,  whereas  in  our  days 
cultured  and  learned  people,  serious  investigators  of 
history  who  live  and  work  upon  the  benefits  of  the 
reform,  turn  their  criticism  against  it 

Peter  the  Great  is  accused  of  having  turned  his  coun- 
try out  of  its  natural  course ;  of  having  trampled  upon 
the  national  spirit  in  order  to  impose  the  foreign  culture 
of  Western  Europe.  "  He  fell  in  love  with  Europe,"  says 
one  of  our  writers ;  ^  and  he  accuses  the  reformer  of 
having  cut  to  the  root  the  tree  of  national  life,  and  of 
having  substituted  an  exotic  plant  unfitted  for  the  soil. 
Peter  is  charged  with  having  made  his  country  the 
moral  prey  of  foreign  pre-eminence;  with  having 
"turned  into  the  muddy  street  of  the  German  Suburb." 

"  But  the  streets  of  old  Moscow,"  observes  one  of  the 
most  conscientious  investigators  of  national  thought, 
"were  not  less  muddy." ^  For  his  violence  and  cruelty 
people  have  compared  him  to  John  the  Terrible ;  forget- 
ting that  John  had  shaped  his  reign  ^according  to  his 
bad  instincts,  whereas  Peter  shaped  his  according  to 
his  talents,  and  gave  way  to  instincts  only  because 
of  the  overpowering  exuberance  of  his  nature.  His 
other  personal  defects,  his  carelessness  of  the  dignity 
of  his  rank,  his  excesses  in  drinking,  his  orgies  with 
common  sailors,  have  been  cited  as  so  many  points  of 
accusation.     People  really  seem  to  forget  of  what  times 

»  Danilevsky,  "Russia  and  Europe."  SL  Petersburg,  1888  (Russian). 
As  a  counterpart  we  may  mention  the  sceptical  opinion  according  to  which 
Peter's  reform  could  have  been  imposed  only  upon  a  country  which  had 
no  history  and  whose  past  presented  a  perfect  "  tobula  rasa."  (Chaadayev 
in  his  "  Apology  of  an  Insane  Man,"  1837.) 

*  A.  N.  Pypin,  "  Beginnings  of  a  New  Movement"  "  European  Mes- 
senger," December,  1894  (Russian). 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  125 

they  speak.  Read  the  memoirs  of  the  Margravine 
of  Bayreuth,  Frederick  the  Great's  sister ;  you  will  see 
what  was  going  on  at  her  father's  court  in  Berlin  in 
this  same  eighteenth  century.  And  what  did  stout 
Frederick  William  of  Brandenburg  do  to  expiate  his 
brutalities  .-*  But  as  he  was  a  brute  nobody  mentions 
him,  whereas  a  great  man's  faults  are  registered  so  as  to 
form  a  regular  indictment.  I  wish  public  opinion  would 
always  show  itself  as  severe  to  vice  as  it  often  does 
when  vice  is  combined  with  superior  gifts.  History  bases 
its  judgment  on  a  different  standard ;  the  violence  of  the 
sovereign,  the  tremendous  strain  of  the  nation's  forces, 
and  the  chaotic  torment  of  its  spirit  were  the  labour 
from  which  New  Russia  received  life. 

The  hardest  accusations  come  from  the  Slavophiles; 
those  advocates  of  the  union  of  the  great  Slavonian  race 
as  a  counterpart  to  the  Latin-German  world,  those  cele- 
brators  of  the  high  spiritual  gifts  granted  to  "Holy 
Russia"  in  preference  to  the  "rotten  West,"  have 
proclaimed  Peter  the  Great  a  betrayer  of  his  people,  of 
his  country,  and  of  their  history.^  We  have  to  shake 
off,  it  is  said,  this  servile  imitation  of  Western  Europe. 
"  At  home,  at  home,"  ^  must  be  found  the  inspiration  of 
Russian  life.^  A  Russian  thinker  cannot  to-day  hold 
by  the  opinion  of  Peter's  greatness  without  being  pushed 
into  the  corner  of  exclusiveness  and  accused  of  "  West- 

1  C.  Aksakov. 

2  J.  Aksakov.  Leading  article  in  the  "  Russ,"  after  the  catastrophe  of 
the  1st  of  March,  1881.     (Murder  of  Alexander  II.) 

«  In  1861  the  critic  Appollon  Grigoryev  was  congratulating  his  time 
upon  the  disappearance  of  the  two  adverse  currenU  —  the  western  and  the 
eastern  ("Development  of  the  National  Idea  in  our  Literature  since 
Poushkin's  Death  ")•  Thirty-five  years  later  we  see  how  premature  a  simi- 
lar sUtement  would  be  even  to-day. 


126  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


ernism,"  which  in  its  last  expression  becomes  synony- 
mous with  "anti-patriotism."  ^ 

If  I  have  insisted  upon  these  two  currents  of  Russian 
thought,  it  is  not  because  I  pretend  to  take  advantage 
of  the  opportunity  to  contend  with  some  of  my  country- 
men, but  because  I  think  that  intestine  polemics  being 
an  important  factor  among  the  indexes  of  national  in- 
tellectual   life,  ought  not  to  be  neglected  by  foreign 
students.     National  self-consciousness  is  a  great  helper 
to  the  observer,  more  than  that,  it  is  perhaps  the  only 
secure  source  from  which  he  can  get  those  elements  of 
knowledge  necessary  for  forming  an  adequate  opinion 
of  a  nation.     You  may  read  as  many  foreign  books  as 
you  wish  about  a  country,  you  will  not  know  it  before 
you  have  read  its  national  books ;  you  will  have  learned 
many  things  about  the  country  ;  you  will  scarcely  know 
anything  of  the  country.     How  often  are  we  Russians 
asiced  by  foreigners :  "  But  why  do  you  know  other  na- 
tions, and  pretend  that  nobody  knows  you } "    My  vehe- 
ment compatriots  generally  exclaim  at  this  :    "  Because 
you  are  more  barbarous  than  we  whom  you  accuse  of 
barbarism."    No,  of  two  cultured  gentlemen  who  discuss 
questions  of   universal  history,  neither  is  a  barbarian ; 
the  difference  comes  from  another  cause.      If  Russia 
knows  other  nations,  it  is  because  she  has  learnt  their 
history  from  their  books  (which  of  course  did  not  pre- 
vent us  from  writing  our  own  after  we  had  read  theirs) ; 
whereas  Russia's  history  is,  till  to-day,  known  to  other 
countries  from  foreign  books.     We  do  not  deny  that 

1  On  Slavophiles :  Mackenzie  Wallace,  "  Russia,"  voL  ii,  chap.  xxvi. 
A.  Leroy-Beaulieu,  "  L'Empire  des  Tsars  et  les  Russes."  T.  i,  L  iv,  chap.  L 
Gerebtsoff,  "  Histoire  de  la  Civilization  en  Russie."  2  vols.  Paris,  1858. 
Doverin,  "  L' Esprit  National  sous  Alexandre  IIL" 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  127 

observation  is  a  chief  means  of  learning,  with  which  no 
science  can  dispense,  yet  history  requires  the  collabora- 
tion of   two   meeting  currents;    the  judgment  of   the 
observer  and  the  self-consciousness  of  him  who  is  ob- 
served.    It  depends  upon  the  talent  of   the  historian 
to  combine  them  afterwards  by  the  power  of  his  criti- 
cism ;    but  if   the   element   of   national   self-conscious- 
ness has  not  been  taken  in  consideration,  the  work  of 
the  observer  will  be  like  a  tourist's  description :  it  may 
reveal   many  valuable   qualities  in  the  author,  it  will 
not  unveil  that  of  which  he  writes ;  it  will  give  an  in- 
sight into  his  soul,  —  not  into  the  soul  of  the  subject* 
This  is  why  we  turn,  with  a  particular  interest,  to  the 
study  of  the  next  period.     Our  eighteenth  century  is 
nothing  but  the  reform  being  made  conscious.     Before 
Peter  the  Great  Russia  was  the  object  of  national  feel- 
ing,  after   him   she  becomes  the   object    of    national 
thought. 

1  Who  will  question  the  talent  of  Milton  or  Voltaire?  Yet  Russia's  his- 
tory by  the  first  ("A  Brief  History  of  Moscovia."  London,  1682),  and 
the  "  History  of  Peter  the  Great,"  by  the  Utter,  have  no  place  in  the 
bibliography  of  Russian  history. 

The  most  voluminous  history  of  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great  accessible 
to  English  readers  is  that  by  Eugene  Schuyler,  LL.D.  2  vols.  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons.  1884-  See  also.  Rambaud's  "  History  of  Rimia,"  edited 
by  Nathan  HaskeU  Dole    Boston,  1880.    VoL  U. 


I-/ 


LECTURE  V 

(1 725-1 796) 

The  eighteenth  century,  —  significance  of  the  date.  Brief 
sketch  from  Peter  I  to  Catherine  II.  The  Academy  of  Sci- 
ence. Peter  the  Great's  depositaries.  Tatischev,  Prince 
Kantemir. 

Lomonossov,  —  the  scientist,  the  poet.  Russian  pseudo- 
classicism,  —  Soumarokov,  Trediakofsky.  Peter's  reform 
under  Empress  Elizabeth. 

Accession  of  Catherine  the  Great.  An  autographical  por- 
trait French  philosophy  in  Russia.  Pseudo-classicism, — 
Derjavine.  Satire,  —  the  Empress,  Von  Wiezin.  "  The  Un- 
der-aged."    On  the  threshold  of  the  century. 


LECTURE  V 

(1 725-1796) 

Thought^  once  awakened^  shall  not  again  slumber.  —  Carlvle. 

WHEN  a  writer,  speaking  of  intellectual  or 
literary  movements  in  Russia,  mentions  the 
eighteenth  century,  whatever  extension  he 
means  to  give  to  this  term,  the  reader  confines  it  to 
the  reign  of  Catherine  the  Great  The  splendour 
of  this  showy  reign  is  not  the  only  reason  why  the 
name  of  the  Empress  seems  to  absorb  the  century. 
Peter  the  Great,  standing  on  the  threshold  of  two  cen- 
turies, belongs  chronologically  to  both ;  moreover  he  does 
not  embody  a  period,  he  marks  a  historical  moment; 
he  is  an  era,  not  an  epoch.  Figures  like  his  root  deeper 
and  rise  higher  than  their  own  time,  they  are  not  what 
we  call  "  representative,"  and  we  should  commit  a  histori- 
cal error  were  we  to  apply  to  individuals  who  make 
their  time  the  same  measure  as  to  those  who  represent 
it.  In  spite  of  all  "precursory  symptoms,"  in  spite 
of  his  helpers  and  contemporary  admirers,  Peter  the 
Great  belongs  to  some  superior  region,  outside  the 
beaten  track  of  chronological  succession ;  he  is  no  in- 
dex of  a  century,  just  as  an  aerolite  is  no  index  of  geo- 
logical formation.  Thus  in  the  memory  of  posterity  he 
does  not  monopolize  the  eighteenth  century,  he  vacates  it 

«3« 


132  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 

for  his  successors.  Among  these  the  name  of  Catherine 
the  Great  has  to  fear  no  competition-  Her  personal 
talents,  the  superior  qualities  of  her  helpers,  the  great 
scale  on  which  she  carried  on  her  diplomatic  inter- 
course, a  series  of  successes  obtained  by  the  Russian 
arms  by  land  and  sea,  —  all  this  is  enough  to  make  her 
the  central  figure  of  the  century.  Her  one  reign,  which 
lasted  from  1 762  till  1 796,  is  as  long  as  all  the  reigns  of 
her  predecessors  since  Peter  the  Great. 

Besides  these  historical  or  national  reasons  there 
are  reasons  of  a  higher,  more  universal  order,  why 
"  Catherine's  epoch"  has  become  synonymous  with  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  date  in  this  case  is  taken 
not  in  its  historical  but  in  its  philosophical  signifi- 
cance,—  the  significance  it  has  when  applied  to  the 
intellectual  movement  of  Western  Europe,  and  more 
specially  to  France.  The  activity  of  Russian  minds  of 
this  time  was  the  immediate  repercussion  of  French 
intelligence.  Russian  literature  trod  in  the  footprints 
of  the  writers  who,  though  belonging  to  the  preceding 
century,  reigned  in  the  eighteenth  with  indisputable 
authority :  pseudo-classicism  in  literature  and  cyclopae- 
dism  in  philosophical  thought  are  the  marks  of  the  time 
in  Russia  no  less  than  in  Western  Europe.  Indepen- 
dently of  the  course  taken  by  historical  events  in  different 
countries,  a  homogeneous  intellectual  spirit  traverses 
the  whole  of  Europe,  East  as  well  as  West.  Thus, 
in  spite  of  the  difference  between  the  excesses  of  the 
great  revolution  on  one  side  and  the  enforced  obser- 
vation of  the  monarchical  inviolability  on  the  other, 
Europe's  eighteenth  century  is  Russia's  eighteenth 
century,  —  it  is  the  first  coincidence  of  universal  and 
Russian  chronology. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  133 

In  a  few  strokes  let  us  retrace  the  epoch  between 
Peter  the  Great's  death  in  1725  and  the  accession  of 
Catherine  the  Great  in  1762.  After  two  years  of  the 
reign  of  Catherine  I  (Peter  I's  wife)  came  three  years 
of  Peter  II,  son  of  the  unfortunate  Tsarevich  Alexis. 
Then  came  from  1730  to  1740  Empress  Anna,  Duchess 
of  Courland,  niece  of  Peter  the  Great,  and  daughter  of 
his  invalid  brother  John.  She  left  the  throne  to  her 
niece.  Duchess  Anna  of  Brunswick,^  who  ruled  in  the 
name  of  her  son,  the  infant  John  VI.  It  was  a  sombre 
epoch  ;  conspiracies,  favouritism,  foreign  intrigue,  diplo- 
matic briberies,  reduced  the  national  history  to  a  series  of 
palace  revolutions ;  every  change  of  reign  was  marked 
by  executions  or  exiles  of  the  previous  favourites.'  It 
was  a  time  of  German  inundation,  when  all  kinds  of 
foreign  adventurers  swarmed  round  the  throne.  The 
national  party  grouped  itself  round  a  woman  who  lived 
retired  and  never  interfered  in  politics.  Exhorted  by 
her  friends,  among  whom  the  French  envoy  De  la 
Chdtardie  played  a  prominent  part,  she  finally  yields  to 
their  insistences  and,  when  everything  is  said  to  be 
ready  for  the  "  coup  d'etat,"  on  one  November  night  of 
1 74 1  she  appears  in  the  barracks  of  Peter  the  Great's 
favourite  guards  regiment  "  Do  you  remember  whose 
daughter  I  am  ?  "  she  exclaims.  A  loud  "  hurrah  !  " 
resounds,  and  the  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great  is  es- 
corted to  the  palace.     The  Brunswick  princess  is  dis- 

»  Married  to  Anton  Ulrich,  Duke  of  Brunswick.  Her  mother  Cathe- 
rine, married  to  Charles  Leopold,  Duke  of  Mecklenburg,  was  the  eldest 
sister  of  Empress  Anna. 

»  On  the  epoch  :  Winkelmann, "  Russland  und  Ernst  Johannes  Byron," 
in  "  Baltische  Monatsschrift"  Band  XV,  Heft  5.  Contemporary :  Man- 
stein,  "  Mcmoire  historique,  politique  et  militaire  tor  U  Rnssie."  London, 
1772. 

I 


134  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


possessed,*  the  infant  John  VI  is  imprisoned,  the  Ger- 
man favourites  are  arrested,  Empress  Elizabeth  ascends 
the  throne.  She  sends  to  Germany  for  her  nephew, 
the  son  of  her  sister  Anna,*  —  Prince  Charles  Peter 
Ulrich  of  Schleswig-Holstein,  and  this  last  male  de- 
scendant of  Peter  the  Great  is  declared  the  heir  to  the 
throne.^  He  marries  Princess  Frederica  of  Anhalt 
Zerbst,  who.  eighteen  years  later,  became  Catherine  the 
Great. 

Such  is  the  historical  succession  of  events.  Let 
us  consider  now  what  constituted  the  intellectual  life 
brought  forth  by  the  reform. 

The  figure  of  Peter  the  Great  lived  powerful  and 
undiminished  in  the  minds  of  his  contemporaries  and 
of  the  next  generation ;  all  who  had  to  work  amidst  the 
political  staggering  of  the  period  that  followed  his  reign, 
found  the  necessary  energy  only  in  the  impulse  once 
given  by  his  vigorous  hand.  In  the  year  before  his  death 
Peter  had  issued  a  decree  ordering  "  an  academy  to  be 
instituted  in  which  languages  should  be  taught,  as  well 
as  other  sciences  and  precious  arts,  and  books  should  be 
translated.  For  arts  and  sciences  generally,  two  kinds 
of  institutions  are  common  :  universities  and  academies  ; 
yet  in  Russia  that  cannot  be  adopted  which  is  common  in 
other  lands ;  one  must  take  into  consideration  the  state 
of  this  country.     The  institution  of  an  academy  only  is 

^  On  the  Brunswick  family  :  A.  Brueckner,  "  Die  Familie  Braunschweig 
in  Russland  im  XVIII  Jahrhunderte."  St.  Petersburg,  1867. 
•  2  Married  to  Charles  Frederik,  Duke  of  Holstein. 
'  He  equally  had  rights  to  the  throne  of  Sweden  and  to  the  throne  of 
Russia.  Through  his  mother  he  was  the  grandson  of  Peter  the  Great; 
through  his  father  the  grandson  of  Charles  XII's  sister.  Thus  Peter  III 
combined  in  his  person  the  two  great  adversaries  of  the  eighteenth 
century.- 

t 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  135 

insufficient,  because  it  is  incapable  of  spreading  know- 
ledge rapidly  among  the  people ;  universities  as  well  are 
useless  so  long  as  there  are  as  yet  no  gymnasiums  or 
colleges  ;  consequently  an  institution  has  to  be  founded 
consisting  of  the  most  learned  men.  These  learned  men 
must  not  only  themselves  study  and  advance  science 
but  must  also  teach  young  men  publicly,  and  be- 
sides this  keep  a  certain  number  of  scholars  attached 
to  their  persons,  so  that  they  may  afterwards  show  the 
basis  of  all  science  to  others."  This  scheme  impresses 
us  not  so  much  by  the  extensiveness  of  its  programme, 
as  by  the  immensity  of  the  vacuum  it  was  expected  to 
fill  up.  The  Academy  was  opened  at  St.  Petersburg 
under  Catherine  I. 

The  first  scientists  were  German.  These  official 
transplanters  of  Western  culture  do  not  interest  us  in 
our  particular  case;  we  are  rather  interested  in  those 
who  adapted,  than  in  those  who  transplanted,  all  the 
more  because  from  the  moment  the  national  element 
grew  up  to  the  level  of  an  independent  scientific  value, 
the  foreign  element  showed  itself  hostile.  Lomonossov, 
the  greatest  name  of  the  century,  was  persecuted  all.  his 
life  by  his  German  colleagues.  Besides,  however  hon- 
ourable and  conscientious  their  work  may  have  been  in 
transplanting  foreign  science,^  they  evidently  could  have 
no  part  in  the  implanting  of  Russian  literature.  In 
speaking  of  "implantation"  we  use  the  official  term: 
"implantation   of   fine  art"  stood  in  the  list  of    the 

1  Among  these  the  most  prominent  were :  Bayer,  Mueller,  and  Schloe- 
zer.  They  rendered  valuable  services  to  Russian  science  in  geology, 
geography,  ethnology,  philology,  and  history.  We  mentioned  in  due 
place  Schloezer's  work  on  Nestor  and  the  annali.  His  autobiography: 
"  .\ugustus  Ludwig  Schloezer's  Oeffentliche-  und  PrivaUeben  von  ihm  aelbrt 


136  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

Academy's  duties.^  But,  at  the  beginning,  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  arts  was  subordinate  to  scientific  activity, 
and  the  real  meaning  of  this  command  of  Peter  the 
Great,  as  pointing  to  an  independent  development  of 
literature  as  such,  was  not  realized  till  later.  The  lit- 
erary essays  of  this  first  post-petrinian  period  bear  the 
stamp  of  the  practical  character  infused  by  the  re- 
former into  the  minds  of  his  helpers  who  became 
allies  and  agents  of  the  reform.  A  group  of  intel- 
ligent men,  different  as  to  their  social  origin  and  edu- 
cation, became  the  delegates  of  him  who  was  gone 
but  "  had  left  us  his  spirit."  The  house  of  Theo- 
phan  Prokopovich,  the  archbishop  of  Novgorod  whom 
we  have  already  mentioned,  was  the  place  where  foreign 
and  national  elements  chiefly  gathered  and  exchanged 
ideas.  This  prelate,  who  lived  amidst  a  library  of  thirty 
thousand  volumes,  had  a  favourite  adage  which  equally 
characterizes  his  tastes  and  his  aspirations :  "  Uti  boni 
vini  lion  est  qtiarenda  regio,  sic  nee  boni  viri  religio  et 
patria."^  In  the  good  harmony  which  could  not  but 
flourish  under  such  principles,  German  professors,  Rus- 
sian clergy,  and  workers  for  the  enlightenment  of  Russia 
intermingled  and  discussed. 

Two  men  among  these  have  inscribed  their  names, 
the  one  on  the  first  page  of  Russian  historical  science, 
the  other  on  the  first  page  of  Russian  literature.  The 
first  was  Tatischev,  son  of  a  land  proprietor  who  had 
been  employed  by  Peter  the  Great  for  geological  and  geo- 

geschrieben."  Gottingen,  1802.  His  biography  by  his  son.  Leipzig, 
1828. 

*  A.  N.  Pypin,  "  Lomonossov  and  bis  Contemporaries,"  "  European 
Messenger,"  March,  1895  (Russian). 

*  "  As  the  place  whence  a  good  wine  comes  need  not  be  asked  after,  so 
it  is  with  a  good  man's  reUgion  and  coantiy." 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  137 

graphical  explorations.*  He  made  valuable  researches 
in  the  old  chronicles,  and  wrote  the  first  "  Russian  His- 
tory." The  ante-Mongolian  period  was  an  object  of  his 
minute  study ;  a  list  of  annals  and  other  documents 
up  to  the  time  of  Theodor,  John  the  Terrible's  son,  was 
compiled  by  him.  Many  historical  documents  of  which 
the  originals  have  perished  are  known  to-day,  thanks  to 
Tatischev's  quotations  and  commentaries. 

The  other  was  Prince  Kantemir  (1708- 1744),  Molda- 
vian by  birth,  educated  in  Russia.  First,  officer  in  the 
guards,  later,  under  Empress  Anna,  ambassador  in  Lon- 
don and  Paris,  he  was  a  man  of  broad  culture  who  knew 
Greek  and  Latin,  and  spoke  four  European  and  two  East- 
ern languages,  —  Turkish  and  Persian.  This  zealous 
adherent  of  new  ideas  devoted  his  pen  to  their  dissemina- 
tion and  wrote  the  first  Russian  verses.  They  were  satires 
directed  against  those  who  for  different  reasons  resisted 
the  reform ;  or,  misunderstanding  its  spirit,  adopted  a 
mere  e.xterior  imitation.  Bigotry,  materialism,  junket- 
ing, and  foppery  are  ridiculed  and  condemned.'  The. 
Satires  of  Kantemir  are  an  important  document,  but 
have  no  artistic  value ;  the  tone  is  didactic  and  heavy, 
the  language  uncouth ;  though  their  subjects  are  thor- 
oughly Russian  and  contemporary,  the  author  himself 
avows  that  he  "steps  in  the  footprints"  of  Boileau, 
Horace,  Juvenal,  and  Persius.  For  a  long  time  will 
Russian  poets  step  in  these  footprints,  and,  in  the  high- 
heeled  shoes  of  French  rhetoric,  stumble  on  the  uneasy 

'  The  first  geographical  atlas  and  map  of  Russia  was  edited  by  KirOoT, 
Secretan-  of  the  Senate,  in  1734.  On  old  Russian  maps:  Dr.  H.  MkhoT, 
"  Die  altesten  Karten  von  Russland.  ein  Beitrag  rur  histomchen  Geogra- 
phie."     Hamburg,  1S84. 

'  French  translation  with  a  biography.     London,  1749  (id  ed.  1750). 


138  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

and  slippery  floor  of  pseudo-classicism ;  but  the  day  will 
come  when  they  shall  realize  that  poetry  means  life,  and 
that  the  prairies  and  forests  of  their  native  land,  and  the 
pains  and  dreams  of  the  national  soul,  are  a  worthier 
and  richer  source  of  inspiration  than  the  mythologi- 
cal altars  and  powdered  wigs  of  foreign  tragedy. 
Literary  forms  were  coming  from  abroad;  poetry  had 
to  gush  out  of  the  soil.  Just  so  in  nature  —  invigorat- 
ing light  comes  from  above,  active  force  comes  from 
the  earth.  The  earth  had  not  yet  spoken ;  she  did  so 
in  the  next  generation. 

One  cold  December  night,  in  a  village  on  the  bank 
of  the  Northern  Dwina,  the  door  of  a  fisherman's  hut 
was  opened,  a  boy  of  sixteen  came  out,  looked  round, 
and  with  a  few  books  under  his  arm  hastened  away  on 
the  highroad.  This  was  in  1730:  the  name  of  the 
village  was  Holmogory;  it  lies  not  far  from  the  port  of 
Archangel ;  the  name  of  the  boy  was  Michael  Lomo- 
nossov ;  the  road  led  to  Moscow.  Why  was  he  flying, 
and  why  to  Moscow.?  He  did  not  know  exactly,  but 
he  had  read  three  books,  —  a  Slavonian  grammar,  an 
arithmetic,  and  David's  Psalms  put  into  verse,  —  and 
he  felt  that  beyond  these  books  lay  wider  horizons.  In 
the  port  of  Archangel,  where  he  used  to  accompany 
his  father  when  about  to  go  fishing  in  the  Arctic  Ocean, 
he  had  seen  foreign  ships  and  foreign  people,  and  he 
felt  that  beyond  the  sea  lay  new  horizons  of  countries, 
nations,  languages,  and  that  they  could  be  reached.  He 
had  heard,  during  his  childhood,  of  that  emperor  who  had 
died  in  1725,  and  had  brought  such  changes  among  his 
people  —  new  dress,  new  customs,  even  Russian  ships, 
schools  with  wonderful  learning;  and,  abandoning  his 
father's  trade  and  freeing  himself  from  the  persecutions 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  139 

of  a  brutal  step-mother,  on  this  December  night  he  fled  to 
Moscow.  He  joined  a  caravan  of  merchants  on  the 
road,  and  in  January  reached  that  town  where  twenty- 
five  years  later  he  was  to  found  a  university.  By  an 
unexpected  chance,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Slavo- 
Greco-Latin  Academy  ;  a  few  years  later  he  was  sent  to 
the  Academy  of  St.  Petersburg,  and  when,  in  1736,  the 
three  best  students  were  chosen  to  be  sent  abroad, 
Lomonossov  was  one  of  the  three. 

Five  years  of  study  and  all  sorts  of  adventures  carry 
him  through  a  course  of  philosophy  under  the  direction 
of  Christian  von  Wolf  in  Marburg,  a  course  of  natural 
science  in  Freiburg  under  Henckel,  a  marriage  with 
the  daughter  of  a  Marburg  tailor,  a  conscription  in  the 
ranks  of  a  German  regiment,  an  incarceration  in  the 
fortress  of  Wesel,  a  successful  escape,  and  finally  a 
happy  return.  Back  in  St.  Petersburg  he  becomes  a 
member  of  the  Academy,  and  is  soon  put  at  the  head 
of  the  physical  and  geographical  department.  From 
this  time  begins  a  life  of  labour  and  study  which  had, 
as  its  result,  the  foundation  of  Russian  science,  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  Russian  language  from  its  heavy  anti- 
quated forms,  and  the  beginning  of  Russian  poetry. 

Hard  were  these  first  years  of  work ;  miserable  the 
state  of  the  Academy  at  that  time.  The  best  German 
professors  had  left,  only  mediocrity  remained ;  personal 
ambition  and  international  hatred  poisoned  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  institution  where  science  was  called  to 
dwell.  "  The  Academy  without  academicians,  the  chan- 
cery without  members,  the  rules  without  authority,  and, 
for  the  rest,  a  confusion  up  to  this  time  irremediable."  * 

1  French  text  quoted  by  A.  Wassilchikov,  "The  Razoumowky  FamUy." 
4  vols.    St.  Petersburg,  1880-1887  (Russimn).     Thii  mort  entertaining 


I40  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


In  such  terms  the  secretary  of  the  Academy  describes 
the  state  of  things,  and  under  such  circumstances  had 
Lomonossov  to  get  to  work.  But  the  moral  energy 
which  had  had  the  force  of  delivering  him  from  the 
darkness  of  his  condition  would  not  shrink  before  such 
obstacles.  The  accession  of  Empress  Elizabeth,  how- 
ever, the  triumph  of  the  national  spirit,  and  the  special 
personal  benevolence  of  Peter  the  Great's  daughter,  by 
and  by  improved  his  situation. 

The  work  of  Lomonossov  was  divided  between 
natural  science  and  literature;  but  these  two  words 
which  indicate  its  direction  appear  insufficient  and  poor 
if  applied  to  its  results.  Poushkin  calls  Lomonossov 
"our  first  University."  What  better  characterization 
of  his  figure  can  we  give?  He  was  in  the  domain  of 
intellectual  life  what  Peter  the  Great  had  been  in  the 
domain  of  practical  life.  That  faculty  of  embodying 
and  irradiating  which  constituted  the  chief  power  of 
the  sovereign,  is  the  characteristic  of  this  brain  that 
by  itself  represents  the  intellectual  life  of  an  epoch  by 
multiplying  itself  in  laboratories,  manufactories,  ethno- 
graphical and  geographical  researches,  reports  on  the 
European  scientific  movement,  historical  and  philologi- 
cal investigations,  rules  of  rhetoric  and  literary  forms, 
odes,  tragedies,  and  other  poetical  essays.  Even  yet 
this  marvel  of  universality  has  hardly  found  due  appre- 
ciation. One  of  his  biographers  says :  "  The  works 
of  Lomonossov  were  rather  samples  of  works  than 
works  brought  to  completion."  ^  If  we  take  into  con- 
book  relating  to  the  history  of  a  family  which  owed  its  rise  to  one  of  its 
members  having  become  the  morganatic  husband  of  the  Empress  Eliza- 
beth, has  been  translated  into  French  by  A.  Bnieckner,  "  Les  Razoumov- 
sky."     6  vols. 

^  H.  Lubimov,  "  Life  and  "Works  of  Lomonossov. "      Moscow,    1872 
(Ruuian). 


AND   RUSSIAN    LITERATURE  141 

sideration  the  all-comprehensiveness  of  his  intellect, 
the  chaotic  state  of  people's  thoughts  at  that  time, 
and  the  complete  ignorance  of  an  abstract  scientific 
world,  we  must  acknowledge  that  just  the  above-men- 
tioned character  of  Lomonossov's  activity  determines 
his  merit  towards  the  subsequent  development  of  sci- 
ence in  his  country.  He  was  the  first  Russian  to  whom 
science  was  not  technical  skill  but  an  independent 
world  of  knowledge  and  thought.^  We  will  not  exam- 
ine his  scientific  activity,  —  it  is  enough  to  mention  the 
words  of  the  famous  German  mathematician  Euler, 
who  praised  his  works  in  physics  and  chemistry  so  highly 
as  to  express  the  wish  that  "  all  academies  should  be 
able  to  make  discoveries  such  as  those  of  Mr.  Lomo- 
nossov,"  —  and  we  pass  over  to  his  literary  significance. 
"  Oratores  fiunt,  poetae  nascuntur,"  says  the  ancient 
proverb  :  "orators  are  formed,  poets  are  born."  Lomo- 
nossov  was  not  born  a  poet,  but  he  wanted  to  become 
one.  And  such  was  the  power  of  his  will,  so  fresh 
seemed  that  language  which  he  had  purified  from  barba- 
risms and  emancipated  from  the  authority  of  the  eccle- 
siastical style,  that  not  only  did  he  become  poet,  T>ut  he 
was  acknowledged  tJie  poet  of  the  time.  He  gave  the 
tone  which  Russian  poetry  kept  for  the  rest  of  the 
century :  the  continuators  of  Lomonossov  will  amplify 
the  harmony  ;  they  will  add  no  chords  to  his  lyre.  The 
style  was  altogether  the  pseudo-classical.^    As  in  the 

'  A.  N.  Pypin,  "  Lomonossov  and  his  Contemporaries."  "  Earopean 
Messenger,"  April,  1895  (Russian). 

2  "  Pseudo-classicism,"  a  term  which  seems  to  have  been  launched  by 
the  German  critics  (perhaps  Schlegel),  is  used  in  Russia  to  designate 
the  French  literature  of  the  seventeenth  century,  especially  the  French 
tragedy  of  Corneille,  Racine,  and  their  imitators. 


142  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


allegorical  etchings  and  the  medals  of  the  time,^  gods 
and  goddesses  of  the  Greek  mythology  further  the  suc- 
cesses of  Russian  armies,  Boreas  blows  on  the  Baltic 
shores,  nymphs  bathe  in  the  streams  of  the  Neva,  and 
all  this  mythological  machinery  is  set  in  movement  to 
extol  the  figure  of  Peter  the  Great.  We  cannot  deny 
that  a  certain  power  makes  itself  felt  under  these  bor- 
rowed vestments.  A  quite  peculiar  greatness  emanates 
from  those  majestic  odes  where  the  descriptions  of  the 
aurora  borealis,  of  the  sunrise,  of  a  tempest,  denote  the 
serenity  of  a  superior  spirit  accustomed  to  a  scientific 
enjoyment  of  God's  creation. 

We  said  that  Lomonossov  wanted  to  become  a  poet ; 
this  is  perhaps  not  quite  so.  There  was  no  selfish 
motive  in  his  poetical  attempts,  as  in  general  there  was 
none  in  any  of  his  activities ;  they  all  stood  at  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country.  What  he  wanted  was  that  Russia 
should  have  poetry,  and  therefore  he  first  of  all  pre- 
pares the  language.  He  expels  the  German  words 
which  have  been  invading  the  vocabulary  since  the  day 
of  Peter  the  Great,  and  when  his  instrument  is  ready, 
he  compiles  the  rules  and  establishes  the  laws  of  versi- 
fication ;  and  when  this  work  is  done,  he  wants  Russia 
to  have  poems  such  as  other  countries  have,  and  he 
writes  them.  This  poetry  is  not  a  necessity  of  the 
soul,  it  is  one  of  those  points  of  superiority  in  which 
foreign  countries  excel,  like  science,  like  industry ;  and 
Russia  does  not  intend  to  be  beaten  in  such  a  thing 
as  poetry.  Had  she  not  come  up  with  other  countries 
with  her  army  and  her  fleet  ?  Why  should  poetry  stay 
behind?     Is  the  language  not  suited  for  it?     Lomo- 

^  On  Russian  medals  of  the  last  century :  Ricaud  de  Tiregal,  "  Medailles 
sui  les  principaux  evenements  de  I'Empire  de  Russie."     Potsdam,  1772. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  143 

nossov  writes:  "Charles  V,  Emperor  of  the  Romans, 
used  to  say  that  one  must  talk  Spanish  to  his  God, 
French  to  his  friends,  German  to  his  enemies,  Italian 
to  ladies.  Had  he  known  Russian,  he  certainly  would 
have  added  that  it  can  be  spoken  to  all  of  them;  for 
he  would  have  found  in  it  the  splendour  of  Spanish,  the 
vivacity  of  French,  the  strength  of  German,  the  tender- 
ness of  Italian,  and  beside  all  this,  the  richness  and  pow- 
erful conciseness  of  Greek  and  Latin."*  Should  such 
an  instrument  resist  Lomonossov's  rules,  or  show  itself 
less  flexible  than  the  language  of  Racine  and  Corneille  ^ 
So  Russia  gets  poetry :  it  is  correct,  faultless,  just 
what  it  must  be  to  match  the  foreign  pattern.  Sou- 
marokov  composes  tragedies,  Trediakovsky  composes 
everything ;  but  except  in  some  rare  instances,  this 
poetry  is  cold,  stiff,  official.  It  becomes  —  just  like  its 
Western  model  —  an  appendage  of  refined  life,  an  orna- 
ment of  the  court;  it  celebrates  victories,  accessions 
to  the  throne,  births  of  imperial  princes.  And  with 
all  that,  in  spite  of  its  official  pomp,  this  pseudo- 
classical  poetry  is  incapable  of  concealing  a  sort  of 
self-satisfaction;  it  seems  to  say:  "You  see  we  are 
Russians,  and  yet  we  also  have  poetry  just  like  others." 
And  you  cannot  make  out  whether  that  imperceptible 
smile  under  the  uncomfortable  mask  is  national  conceit 
or  cosmopolitan  snobbishness.  It  will  take  but  fifty 
years  more,  and  in  the  first  years  of  our  century  the 
Russian  poet  will  give  up  this  spirit  of  competition  with 
foreign  literatures ;  he  will  sing  because  he  wants  to  sing, 
and  not  because  he  wants  to  sing  as  well  as  others ;  and 
instead  of  saying :  "  We  are  Russians,  and  yet  we  have 

*  In  the  dedication  of  his  •'Russian  Graminu"  to  the  Gnnd  Duke 
P«uL     SL  Petersburg,  20th  September,  1775. 


144  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

poetry,"  he  will  say,  "  we  are  Russians,  and  therefore  we 
have  o»r  poetry."  But  in  those  days  literature  was  an 
imported  ornament ;  it  might  be  compared  to  the  pow- 
dered wigs  on  the  heads  of  the  courtiers  ;  it  is  considered 
necessary,  yet,  as  Trediakovsky  says :  "  It  is  necessary 
like  fruit  and  sweetmeats  on  a  rich  table  after  heavy 
dishes."  Science  is  not  treated  much  differently.  It  is 
like  a  waiter  who  has  to  answer  the  government's  bell 
—  it  stands  at  service.  The  academy  is  a  big  dictionary; 
the  academician  —  a  source  of  useful  information. 

Among  such  conditions,  you  may  yourself  appreciate 
the  value  of  Lomonossov,  who  for  the  first  time  in  his 
discourse  on  chemistry  spoke  not  of  usefulness,  but  of 
beauty.  He  was  the  first  who  gathered  intellectual  joy 
from  scientific  study  —  that  real  scientific  study  which 
despises  all  reward  except  the  consciousness  of  its  un- 
selfishness. In  literature  he  was  the  first  who  con- 
sidered the  Russian  language  not  as  a  mere  vestment 
for  clothing  foreign  forms,  but  as  an  object  of  study, 
and  a  yet  unknown  but  inexhaustible  source  of  inde- 
pendent beauty  and  power.  He  predicts  that  nothing 
shall  be  beyond  the  reach  of  that  language,  "For  if 
we  do  not  succeed  in  expressing  things  with  complete 
exactness,"  he  says,  "it  has  to  be  attributed  not  to 
our  language,  but  to  our  lack  of  skill  in  using  it.  He 
who,  led  by  the  universal  philosophical  conception  of 
human  speech,  shall  penetrate  a  little  deeper,  will  dis- 
cover a  field  of  endless  breadth  or,  rather,  an  almost 
illimitable  sea."  i  On  the  waves  of  that  illimitable 
sea  the  fisherman's  son  launched  the  skiff  of  Russian 
poetry. 

1  In  the  dedication  of  his  "  Russian  Grammar "  to  the  Grand  Duke 
Paul.     St.  Petersburg,  20th  September,  1775. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  145 

We  have  mentioned  the  two  other  literary  names  that 
illustrate  this  epoch.  Soumarokov  (17 18-1777)  was  a 
tragedian  of  greater  productiveness  than  talent;  his 
tragedies  were  Russian  history  disguised  under  the 
mantle  of  French  pseudo-classicism,^  but  he  was  called 
by  his  contemporaries  the  "  Russian  Racine,"  *  and  he 
liked  to  be  compared  to  the  great  philosopher  of  Femay. 
In  one  of  his  critical  essays  he  exclaims :  "  Is  it  possible 
that  people  should  rather  trust  a  clerk  than  Voltaire 
or  myself!"  Trediakovsky  (i 703-1 769)  was  a  versi- 
fier of  still  less  talent  and  still  greater  productiveness. 
His  verses  survive  as  lasting  examples  of  poetical  pov- 
erty.^ But  his  works  on  versification  had  their  impor- 
tance. In  those  days  of  foreign  influence  he  was  the 
first  to  look  for  suggestions  in  the  metre  of  popular 
songs. 

These  were  the  three  men  who  had  to  carry  out  the 
ungrateful  task  of  providing  for  the  literary  education  of 
that  light-minded  and  superficial  society  which  composed 
the  court  of  Empress  Elizabeth.  A  strange  degeneration 
is  presented  by  the  forms  under  which  foreign  influ- 
ence showed  itself  at  this  time.  Perhaps  the  succession 
of  several  women  on  the  throne  furthered  the  relaxation 

1  "  Theatre  tragique  d'A.  Soumarokov,"  translated  by  M.  Pappadopoulo. 
2  vols.      Paris,    1801.      "Demetrius  the  Impostor,"  tragedy.      London, 

1806. 

2  "  Posterity  thinks  differently No  more  incense  is  being  burnt 

before  the  idol,  yet  let  us  not  touch  the  marble  pedestal;  let  us  preserve 
in  its  integrity  the  inscription :  '  Great  Soumarokov.'  ...  We  may  set 
up  new  statues  if  necessary,  but  let  us  not  destroy  those  erected  by  the 
noble  zeal  of  our  forefathers."  Karamsin,  "Pantheon  of  Russian 
Writers."     l8o2  (Russian). 

»  "  Could  good  will  and  assiduity  take  the  place  of  talent,  whom  would 
not  Trediakovsky  have  surpassed  in  versification  and  eloquence?  "     Ibid. 
L 


146  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

of  the  energy  which  had  been  imparted  to  life  under 
the  impulsion  of  Peter  the  Great  Dutch  wharves  and 
manufactories  had  been  the  school  of  the  reformer's 
generation ;  under  his  daughter  it  is  French  drawing- 
rooms,  barber-shops,  and  restaurants.  What  would  her 
father  have  said  to  this,  he  who,  when  asked  by  two  Ger- 
man princesses  —  the  Electress  of  Hannover  and  the 
Electress  of  Brandenburg  —  what  was  his  favourite  oc- 
cupation,—  for  answer  showed  his  callous  hands?  Now 
French  influence  was  smoothing  away  on  the  hands  of 
posterity  the  inheritance  of  their  fathers'  Dutch  cal- 
losities. It  made  them  refined,  fond  of  theatricals; 
military  schools  became  like  academies  of  dancing ; 
cadets  performed  at  court ;  the  empress  herself  presided 
over  all  details.  In  the  tittle-tattle  of  that  spruce  coun- 
try, literary  interests  had  but  little  place,  and  French 
influence  came  in  chiefly  by  the  channel  of  frivolity  and 
indolence.  Only  a  few  received  it  by  the  channel  of 
thought.  Among  these  was  the  wife  of  the  heir  to  the 
throne,  the  young  Grand  Duchess  Catherine.  "If  I 
have  any  notion  of  anything,"  she  writes  to  Voltaire  a 
few  years  later,  "  I  owe  it  to  you."  i  The  circumstances 
of  her  accession  are  well  known. 

Empress  Elizabeth  died  in  1 761,*  while  the  Russian 
army,  taking  part  in  the  Seven  Years'  War,  was  pressing 
upon  the  king  of  Prussia,  after  having  entered  Berlin. 
Thanks  to  her  death  the  coalition  of  the  "  three  petti- 
coats "  —  as  Frederick  the  Great  used  to  call  Empress 
Elizabeth,  Empress  Maria  Theresa,  and  the  Marquise 
de  Pompadour  —  comes  to  an  end.     The  Duke  of  Hol- 

^  A.  Brueckner,  "  Catharina  II."     Berlin,  1888. 

2  On  the  Empress  Elizabeth :  Vandal,  "  Lonis  XV  et  Eliiabeth."  Paris. 
1882.  ^ 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  147 

stein,  Emperor  Peter  III,  succeeds  his  aunt  He  had 
always  worshipped  Frederick  the  Great,  and  the  army 
is  recalled.^  The  new  emperor  was  hated.  His  brutal* 
ity,  his  cynicism,  his  arrogance,  his  contempt  for  all  that 
was  Russian,  his  ostentatious  preference  of  his  Hol- 
stein  officers,  and  above  all,  his  predilection  for  all  that 
was  German  and  Prussian,  —  contributed  only  too  much 
to  bring  into  light  the  charms  of  the  empress.  The 
young  but  prudent  Princess  of  Anhalt  Zerbst  had  pre- 
pared her  way  slowly,  but  with  a  remarkable  persever- 
ance. "  I  have  always  considered  it  better,"  she  writes, 
"to  possess  the  hearts  of  all  than  the  hearts  of  a  few. 
To  this  deliberate  conduct  I  owe  my  having  attained 
the  height  on  which  I  have  been  looked  up  to  by  all 
Europe."  And,  indeed,  she  possessed  all  hearts.  Inde- 
pendently of  any  political  consideration,  the  insulting 
behaviour  of  the  emperor  towards  his  wife  caused  every- 
body to  be  on  her  side.  When  her  personal  security  be- 
came compromised  by  the  uncertainty  of  the  position  to 
which  the  extravagances  of  Peter  had  brought  her  as  well 
as  himself,  all  who  held  power  became  her  allies.  The 
crisis  had  come.  "  I  had  either  to  perish  with  a  fool," 
she  wrote  some  years  later,  "or  to  save  myself  with  the 
multitude  which  meant  to  deliver  itself  from  him."' 

On  the  28th  of  June,  Catherine  was  proclaimed  empress 
regent ;  on  the  next  day  Peter  was  arrested.  Frederick 
the  Great  used  to  say  in  speaking  of  his  worshipper, 
that  he  left  the  throne  as  an  obedient  child  leaves  the 

1  On  the  Seven  Years'  War :  Frederic  le  Grand,  "CEuvres  poiOiamet.*^ 
Amsterdam,  1789.  "  Histoire  de  mon  temps,"  in  "  Publicationen  aut  dea 
Preussischen  Staatsarchiven."  Berlin,  1876,  voL  iv,  Ranke,  "D«r  Ur- 
sprung  des  Siebenjahrigen  Krieget."     1871. 

*  A.  Bnieckner,  op.  ciL 


148  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

room  when  sent  to  bed.  On  the  6th  of  July,  Peter  III 
went  to  sleep  forever.^  When  the  Empress,  upset  by  the 
terrible  news,  announced  it  to  her  friend  the  Princess 
Dashkoff,^  that  future  president  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  exclaimed :  "  Too  soon  for  your  glory  and  for 
mine !  "  Till  to-day  posterity  is  uncertain  as  to  how  far 
the  glory  of  Catherine  should  be  clouded  by  the  oppor- 
tuneness of  Peter's  death.* 

The  personality  of  Catherine  the  Great  appears 
double :  the  empress  as  she  was,  and  the  empress  as 
she  wanted  to  be  seen.  No  monarch  ever  cared  for 
contemporary  opinion   as  much  as  she   did.     All   the 

1  Eleven  years  later  a  Cossack,  Pougachoff,  assumed  the  name  of  Peter 
III.  In  a  few  months'  time  he  raised  the  whole  southeast  of  the  country. 
With  great  diflSculty  his  army  was  overcome  by  General  Michelson,  the 
impostor  was  made  prisoner  by  Souvorov,  and  executed  in  Moscow  in 
1774.  ("The  History  of  PougachofPs  Rebellion,"  by  Poushkin.  Trans- 
lations —  see  Lecture  VI,  foot-notes.)  On  Peter  III :  "  Die  merkwurdige 
Lebensgeschichte  Peters  des  Dritten."  Leipzig,  1733.  A.  Brueckner, 
"  Zur  Geschichte  Peter  III  und  Catharina  II "  in  "  Russiscbe  Revue," 
XI. 

'  "  Mon  histoire."  Archives  of  the  Prince  Worontsoff,  voL  xxi.  Mos- 
cow, 188 1.     "  Memoirs  of  Princess  Dashkaw."     London,  1859. 

*  See  A.  Brueckner, "  Catharina  II."  Berlin,  1888.  Schloezer,  "  Fried- 
rich  der  Grosse  und  Catharina  II."  Berlin,  1859.  Ameth,  "  Joseph  II  und 
Catharina  von  Russland."  Vienna,  1869.  Jouffret,  "Catherine  II  et  son 
regne."  2  vols.  Paris,  i860.  Valiszevsky  (from  the  French),  "The 
Romance  of  an  Empress."  London,  1894-  "The  Story  of  a  Throne." 
2  vols.  London,  1895.  Bilbassov,  "  Geschichte  Catharinas."  Berlin,  2  B. 
1891-1893.  De  Lariviere, "  Catherine  II  et  la  revolution  fran^aise."  Paris, 
1895.  Kobcko,  "Lefance  d'un  Tsar,"  translated  by  D.  de  Benckendorff. 
Paris,  1896. 

Contemporary:  Catherine  II,  "Memoires."  London,  1859.  Castera, 
"Histoire  de  Catherine  II."  3  vols.  1798  (superficial).  Count  de  Se- 
gur, "  Memoires  ou  Souvenirs  et  Anecdotes."  3  vols.  Paris,  1827.  Prince 
de  Eigne,  "CEnvres,"  4  vols.,  and  "  Memoires."  Brussels,  i860.  J.  Har- 
ris, "  Diaries  and  Correspondence  of  J.  Harris,  first  lord  Malmesbury." 
London.  1844. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  149 

resources  of  her  intelligence,  her  literary  talent,  the 
means  given  by  rank  and  power,  were  employed  by  her 
for  establishing  the  reputation  she  wanted  to  prevail. 
Her  correspondence  with  Voltaire,  Diderot,  D'Alem- 
bert,  Grimm,  Mme.  Geoff rin,  and  all  the  celebrities  of 
contemporary  France,  which  displays  more  brightness 
and  good  humour  than  seriousness,  was  nothing  but  hunt- 
ing for  notoriety.  As  in  our  days  cheap  chromolithog- 
raphers  spread  the  features  of  a  sovereign  all  over  his 
kingdom,  so  in  these  spirited  letters  she  was  multiplying 
and  spreading  her  moral  portrait  all  over  Europe.  And, 
of  course,  the  portrait  was  pleasant.  In  the  gorgeous  • 
frame  of  monarchical  splendour,  with  beautiful  parks 
and  palaces  in  the  purest  Louis  XV  style  in  the  back- 
ground, surrounded  with  the  fame  of  military  exploits, 
the  features  of  this  most  attractive,  bright,  and  amiable 
woman  roused  enthusiasm.  They  were  praised  abroad, 
they  were  exalted  at  home ;  they  were  celebrated  in 
beautiful  verses,  and  as  such  they  were  handed  down  to 
posterity.  The  brightness  of  that  portrait  throws  its 
light  on  the  whole  environment,  and  communicates  to 
this  reign  an  exterior  splendour  which  has  seldom  been 
surpassed.  The  empress  had  the  rare  fortune  of  im- 
pressing herself  on  people's  minds  just  as  she  wanted  to 
be  seen.  Perhaps  the  judgment  of  posterity  will  find  less 
charm  in  the  portrait  of  her  who  cared  so  much  for  the 
opinion  of  contemporaries ;  those  who  study  the  condi- 
tions of  the  country  and  go  to  the  root  of  things  have  to 
admit  many  deficiencies  under  that  dazzling  splendour.* 

^  Poushkin  was  perhaps  the  first  to  show  the  rercrse  of  the  medal. 
In  a  historical  essay  written  in  Kishinioff,  1 822,  the  great  poet  reveals  a 
sense  of  historical  criticism  which  is  all  the  more  remarkable  as  only 
twenty-six  years  separate  his  writing  from  Catherine'*  death. 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


"SO ^___ 

But  in  our  case  it  is  the  empress  as  she  wanted  to  be 
seen  who  interests  us,  for  it  is  she  who  influenced  the 
intellectual  movement,  she  who  patronized  literature, 
she  who  impressed  imaginations,  she  who  passed  into 
poetry.  By  following  her  in  her  relations  to  philosophy 
and  literature,  let  us  try  to  trace  the  intellectual  picture 

of  the  time.^ 

Under  Catherine  French  philosophy  pervades  Rus- 
sian intellectual  life.     We  have  seen  that  in  the  pre- 
ceding generation  French  philosophers  had  their  readers, 
and  French  poets  their  imitators,  but  the  taste  was  not 
universal,  —  it  grew  to  a  passion  now.     In  this,  Russia 
underwent  the  same  influence  as  the  rest  of  Europe  in 
those  days.     Frederick  the  Great  welcomed  Voltaire  to 
Potsdam,  the  Academy  of  Berlin  was  presided  over  by 
Maupertuis;  Catherine  received  Diderot  at  St.  Peters- 
burg, entertained  Grimm  at  Tsarskoye  Selo.     Perhaps  in 
Russia  the  movement  was  more  exaggerated  than  else- 
where.    Russian  military  schools  swarmed  with  French 
professors,  rich  families  kept  French  teachers  for  their 
children,^—  the  Empress  had  given  the  example,  she 
had   asked   D'Alembert  to   take   charge  of.  her  son's 
education ;  the  philosopher  declined  the  offer,  but  later 
her  eldest  grandsons,  Alexander  and  Constantine,  were 
.    entrusted  to  the  Swiss  Laharpe,  a  fervent  disciple  of 
French  ideas.^     A  touching  intercourse  established  it- 
self between  St.  Petersburg  and  Paris ;  no  Russian  went 


1  A  writer  calls  the  Empress  Catherine  a  "  microscope  of  her  time." 
Mordovtsev,"  Russian  Women."     3  vols.     St.  Petersburg,  1874  (Russian). 

2  Among  these  was  the  brother  of  Marat,  He  did  not  share  the  revo- 
lutionary opinions  of  his  illustrious  brother,  and  even  asked  to  have  his 
name  changed.     He  was  called  after  his  birthplace  —  Baudry. 

'  His  "  Memoires."     Paris  and  Geneva,  1864. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  151 

abroad  without  paying  his  tribute  of  personal  respect 
to  Voltaire.* 

A  strange,  I  should  say  a  sad,  moral  aspect  that 
society  presents  which,  eager  for  real  mental  aliment, 
threw  itself  upon  the  negative  philosophy  of  the  last 
century.  Transplanted  from  the  historical  soil  which 
determined  their  development,  deprived  of  their  prac- 
tical union  with  the  conditions  of  life,  those  bombas- 
tic sentences  on  liberty,  fraternity,  equality,  stuff  the 
Russian  brains  of  that  time  with  shallow  phrases.  The 
inner  link  between  the  ideas  proclaimed,  and  those  events 
of  the  French  history  which  gradually  led  to  the  great 
revolution,  escapes  their  observation.  The  Empress  her- 
self in  the  beginning  does  not  understand ;  she  continues 
her  philosophical  flirtations  with  the  men  who  are  the 
intellectual  representatives  of  an  epoch  the  mere  re- 
membrance of  which  shall  later  make  her  shudder. 
That  shortsightedness  as  to  the  link  between  ideas  and 
events  is  the  more  striking  because  in  her  apprecia- 
tion of  events,  she  had  a  remarkably  keen  perception  of 
cause  and  effect     In  politics  she  is  extraordinarily  far- 

>  The  old  philosopher  was  not  inaccessible  to  these  marks  of  devotion 
from  the  side  of  the  "  Scythians."  Under  the  Empress  Elizabeth  he  soli- 
cited and  obtained  election  as  honorary  member  of  the  Academy  of  St 
Petersburg, —  later,  the  official  appointment  to  write  the  history  of  Peter 
the  Great.  Lomonossov  helped  him  with  documents  and  translations,  yet 
he  remained  sceptical  as  to  the  success  of  the  enterprise.  Frederic  the 
Great  felt  very  much  irritated  at  the  appearance  of  the  first  volume.  "  Pray, 
what  is  this  idea  of  writing  the  history  of  Siberian  wolves  and  bean?"  he 
writes  to  the  philosopher.  And  the  latter  in  quoting  the  king's  words  in  a 
letter  to  D'Alembert,  adds :  ♦*  Yet  when  they  entered  Berlin,  they  proved 
to  be  very  well  educated  bears."  (S.  Solovieff,  "  History  of  Ruisia,"  vol. 
xxvi.)  The  books  and  manuscripts  left  after  Voltaire's  death  were  booght 
by  the  Empress  Catherine  (1778).  The  "  VolUire  Library  "  forms  now  a 
department  of  the  Imperial  Public  Library  at  SL  Petersburg. 


152  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

sighted;  she  almost  anticipates  the  events  of  French 
history.  In  the  autumn  of  1789,  she  says  that  Louis 
XVI  will  have  the  end  of  Charles  I.  In  her  letters  to 
Grimm  as  early  as  1790,  she  predicts  the  apparition  of 
a  Caesar  in  France.^  But  these  were  politics,  and  poli- 
tics, in  her  opinion,  seems  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  that 
which  was  considered  pure  philosophy.  A  sort  of  duality 
creates  a  contradiction  between  her  ideas  and  her  acts, 
but  it  does  not  seem  to  trouble  her.  The  American 
Revolutionary  War  fills  her  with  indignation,  and  yet 
she  is  sincerely  disappointed  when  General  Lafayette, 
detained  with  the  Assembly  of  the  Notables,  declines 
her  invitation  to  accompany  her  in  her  journey  through 
the  Crimea.  On  the  other  hand,  Franklin  expresses 
the  wish  to  pay  her  a  visit,  and  she  asks  Grimm  to  dis- 
suade the  old  man  from  the  long  journey.  In  the  inter- 
esting diary  of  her  private  secretary  Krapovitsky,  who 
during  ten  years  (i  782-1 793)  kept  a  concise  record  of 
his  conversations  with  the  Empress,  we  read  under  the 
date  of  the  6th  of  June,  1782,  the  following  sentence  in 
French:  "I  don't  like  him,"  and  in  parenthesis,  "por- 
trait of  Franklin." 

Those  sovereigns  of  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
who  were  representatives  of  the  so-called  "  enlightened 
absolutism,"  like  Frederick  II,  Joseph  II,  Catherine  II, 
must  have  experienced  strange  bifurcations  of  professed 
principles  and  inborn  ideas.  Jostled  between  love  of 
popularity  and  dread  of  revolution,  they  were  all  double- 
faced  at  that  time.2    No  wonder  that  the  empress  "  as  she 

1  The  letters  of  the  Empress  Catherine  to  Grimm  (French  text),  pub- 
lished by  the  Imperial  Russian  Historical  Society,  vol.  xxiii;  the  letters  of 
Grimm  to  the  Empress,  vol.  xxxiii  of  the  same  publication. 

*  It  is  rather  amusing  that  in  Catherine's  letters  to  Grimm,  Joseph  II 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  153 

wanted  to  be  seen  "  invites  Beaumarchais  to  bring  over 
to  St.  Petersburg  his  "  Figaro's  Marriage,"  which  had 
just  been  interdicted  in  Paris,  while  the  Empress  "  as 
she  was  "  falls  ill  and  goes  to  bed  when  she  learns  that 
the  King  of  France  has  been  executed. 

And  society,  too,  was  double-faced  at  that  time. 
Those  refined  courtiers,  who  knew  by  heart  Voltaire 
and  Rousseau,  not  only  did  not  suffer  from,  but  seemed 
not  to  notice  the  contradiction  between  books  and  life,  — 
the  great  principles  proclaiming  the  "  rights  of  man  "  on 
one  side,  and  the  servitude  of  the  peasants  on  the  other. 
Of  course,  dreams  of  equality  will  always  remain  dreams; 
law  may  proclaim  all  emancipations  possible,  —  life  will 
always  paralyze  their  full  application;  yet  they  have 
their  importance  as  idealistic  postulates  forcing  our  con- 
science to  acknowledge  the  wrong  in  the  actual  state 
of  things.  This  translation  of  idea  into  action  was  al- 
most unknown  in  these  times  we  are  speaking  of.  The 
Empress,  who  in  many  respects  stood  above  her  envi- 
ronment, had  made  during  the  first  years  of  her  reign 
several  attempts  at  putting  the  question  of  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  serfs  on  a  firm  footing,  —  she  had  to  give 
it  up :  she  had  to  spare  the  interests  of  those  to  whom 
she  owed  her  accession  to  the  throne. 

Thus,  as  we  have  said,  French  philosophy  was  entering 
into  Russian  minds  deprived  of  inner  links  with  actu- 
ality; but  its  links  with  the  past  escaped  comprehen- 
sion as  well.  That  this  philosophy  and  this  literature 
were  representatives  of  a  whole  civilization,  that  they 
were  the  contemporary  stratum  of  a  long  historical  for- 
mation, that  they  were  a  result  of  the  past  and  not  merely 

(before  his  first  \'isit  to  Russia)  is  spoken  of  under  the  nickname  "  I'homme 
aux  deux  phyiionomies." 


154  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN    HISTORY 


a  specimen  of  the  present,  —  that  had  not  been  grasped 
by  our  fathers.  Their  culture,  very  considerable  in  the 
quantitative  sense,  was  superficial  both  in  a  contempo- 
rary and  in  a  historical  sense.  They  took  what  is 
known  in  German  aesthetic  as  the  "  scheinbare  Ober- 
flache,"  —  the  visible  surface  of  contemporary  culture, 
—  and  abstract  as  it  was,  it  made  them  abstract  and  un- 
fitted to  the  soil ;  philosophy  amalgamated  with  brains, 
not  with  life.  Only  much  later,  after  the  terrors  of  the 
Revolution,  and  perhaps  still  more  after  the  invasion  of 
Napoleon  I  in  1812,  French  philosophy  was  made  re- 
sponsible for  historical  events,  and,  as  it  often  happens 
in  similar  cases,  things  were  exaggerated :  those  who 
professed  French  ideas  were  regarded  as  sympathizers 
with  revolution.  Throughout  the  whole  first  part  of  the 
present  century  "  Voltairianism  "  was  synonymous  with 
apostasy;  a  "  Voltairianist "  was  a  man  condemned  to  hell,  * 
whom  good  Christians  must  avoid.  Yet  they  were  not 
dangerous ;  indeed,  they  were  survivors  of  a  past  which 
had  become  innocuous,  and  soon  fell  out  of  fashion. 
But  their  memory  lived  on,  and  the.  younger  genera- 
tion was  already  frisking  in  the  prairies  of  romanticism, 
when  old  ladies  in  the  provinces  were  still  crossing  them- 
selves at  the  mere  name  of  Voltaire. 

Let  us  now  pass  on  to  literature.  The  poets  of  the 
Catherinian  time  appear  old-fashioned  in  our  days,  but 
in  the  succession  of  literary  periods  they  have  their 
historical  importance,  and  taken  in  their  own  contem-' 
porary  atmosphere,  they  certainly  present  a  brilliant  ap- 
pearance, well  deserving  the  fame  with  which  their 
names  were  surrounded  at  the  splendid  court  of  the 
enlightened  Empress.  No  sovereign,  before  or  since 
Catherine  the  Great,  took  more  interest  in  literature 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  155 

and  writers  than  she  did;^  she  was  a  writer  herself. 
In  a  time  when  literary  work  did  not  constitute  an 
independent  career  this  special  attention  granted  to 
literature  is  of  important  significance;  it  had  its  influ- 
ence and  consequences. 

We  have  seen  that  Lomonossov  had  constituted  him- 
self the  singer  of  Peter  the  Great.  With  the  pseudo- 
classical  tone  of  his  lyre  this  official  character  of  poetry 
passes  over  to  the  next  generation.  The  Empress, 
with  her  encouraging  smile,  captivates  the  heart  of 
the  national  muse,  and  becomes  not  only  the  centre  of 
poets,  but  the  chief  object  of  their  songs.  Derjavine, 
the  most  brilliant  among  them,  declares  in  one  of  his 
odes  to  have  no  other  ambition  than  to  become  illustri- 
ous through  having  celebrated  her  deeds. 

"  I  sang,  I  sing,  and  I  will  sing  them. 
A  sun,  a  moon,  for  coming  ages, 
Thy  glorious  image,  and  thy  name. 
I  will  extol ;    I   will  exalt  thee ; 
And  through  thee  become  immortal." 

A  sort  of  fellowship  establishes  itself  between  the 
Empress  and  the  writers.  In  her  comedies  she  herself 
gives  the  example  of  the  satirical  tone.  A  number  of 
satirical  magazines  arise  ;  Von  Wiezin  writes  his  famous 
comedies;  plays  by  the  Empress  and  others  are  per- 
formed on  the  private  stage  of  the  Hermitage  palace  — 
a  frank  and  healthy  laughter  resounds  at  the  court  of 
her  who  used  to  say  that  no  great  man  ever  lived 
who  did  not  possess  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  gaiety.' 

1  A.  N.  Pypin,  "  The  Times  of  Catherine  II."    "  European  Messenger," 
May,  June,  July,  1895  (Russian), 
a  A.  Bmeckner,  "  Catbahna  11." 


156  PICTURES   OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

Thus  the  two  tendencies  of  the  literature  of  the  time 
are  marked  by  the  Empress  herself:  the  pseudo-classical 
trumpet  proclaiming  her  glory,  and  the  caustic  speech 
of  sarcasm  ridiculing  the  old  generation,  and  spurring 
on  the  young. 

Derjavine  (i 743-1816),  as  we  have  said,  is  the  most 
brilliant  among  the  first  group.  Less  emphatical  than 
Lomonossov,  he  himself  establishes  his  points  of  ex- 
cellence when  he  says  that  he  was  the  first  who  sang 
in  a  pleasing  tone,  who  spoke  of  God  in  simplicity 
of  heart,  and  told  truth  to  monarchs  "smilingly."  If 
we  compare  him  with  his  predecessors,  this  self-ap- 
preciation is  very  nearly  adequate.  He,  in  fact,  con- 
descended to  leave  those  artificial  heights  where  poetry 
had  sought  its  vocabulary ;  he  dwells  in  a  lower  region 
than  Lomonossov,  yet,  compared  to  the  next  genera- 
tion, he  is  still  in  the  clouds.  It  is  not  his  fault,  it  is 
not  the  fault  of  literature;  all  streams  of  intellectual 
life  moved  in  unnatural  channels,  intelligences  walked 
on  stilts,  and  were  actuated  by  the  desire  of  living  up 
to  patterns,  not  of  penetrating  into  the  substance  of 
questions ;  a  void  separated  intellectual  interests  from 
the  interests  of  life.  Derjavine  made  attempts  at  step- 
ping over  that  vacuum ;  he  introduced  into  his  solemn 
verse  satirical  strokes  of  everyday  life.  In  a  letter 
to  the  Princess  Dashkoff,  president  of  the  Academy 
of  Sciences,  drawing  a  parallel  between  Lomonossov 
and  himself,  he  thus  establishes  the  difference  between 
them:  "He  had  recourse  to  magnificent  tales,  and 
to  accessory  ornamentation,  whereas  I  have  recourse 
to  nature  alone,  and  to  truth,  which  history  will  con- 
firm." And,  indeed,  in  his  ode  "  Felitsa,"  where  the 
Empress  is  celebrated  under  the  fictitious  name  of  a 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  157 

Kirguise  princess,  he  opposes  to  her  virtues  his  own 
shortcomings.     Under  the  autobiographical   mask  we 
must  look  for  the  aspect  of  contemporary  society ;  its 
luxury,  its    indolence,  its    roughness,   are    represented 
with  characteristic  strokes,  but  they  do  not  fill  up  the 
void  we  spoke  of;   without  communicating  reality   to 
his  poetry  they  simply  remain  specimens  of  bad  taste. 
Yet  they  have  their   historical   importance.      A   critic 
says  that  Derjavine's  poems  are  "poetical  annals"  of 
Catherine's  reign.^     In  one  of  the  last  works  which  old 
Soumarokov,  a  survivor  of  the  Elizabethan  time,  offered 
to  Catherine,  he   says:    "The  reign  of   an   Augustus 
needs  its  Horace."     But  Soumarokov  did  not  become 
the   Horace  of  Catherine  j^   he  was  supplanted  by  an- 
other.     Derjavine,  whose  sonorous  language,  animated 
with  a  real  practical  breath,  was  just  the  instrument 
suited  for  the  splendour  of  that  court,  for  the  glory  of 
the  victories  in  the  Crimea  and  on  the  Danube,  for  the 
pomp  of  that  society,  the  pride  of  the  grandees,  and 
the  fantastic  military  exploits  of  Souvorov,  Potiomkin, 
Roumiantsov,  and  all  those   others  who   formed  what 
Poushkin   called    "the   glorious   brood   of   Catherinian 
eagles."  ' 

If  we   abstract  from   Derjavine's  work  the   special 

1  A.  Galakov,  "  History  of  Russian  Utcratnre."  2  toIi.  Moscow, 
1S94  (Russian). 

2  P.  Polevoy,  "  History  of  Russian  Literature."  5th  ed.  St  Petetv 
burg,  1883  (Russian). 

8  On  campaigns  and  exterior  politics  of  the  time :  A-  Brueckner, "  Russ- 
lands  Politic  im  Mittelmcer,  1788  und  1789,"  in  the  "Hist.  Zeitschrift," 
xxvi.  "Schweden  und  Russland,"  in  "  HisL  Zeitschrift,"  xxii.  "Din- 
marks  Neutralitat  im  Schwcdisch-Russischen  Kriege  im  Jahre  1788,"  in 
the  "Baltische  Monatsschrift."  Neue  Folge,  IL  Cart  Bergholm,  "Die 
BewafTnete  Neutralitat."     Berlin,  1884. 


158  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

merits  of  contemporaneousness,  and  the  defects  of  old- 
fashionedness,  we  shall  discover  elements  of  real  poeti- 
cal beauty  which  have  their  lasting  value  in  art  His 
lyrical  poems  have  genuine  sentiment ;  his  ode  entitled 
"God"  is  a  fine  specimen  of  solemn  poetry.^  In  the 
main,  he  was  our  first  poet ;  for  Lomonossov,  even  in 
his  best  verse,  remains  a  splendid  orator.  In  Lomo- 
nossov the  poet  is  overweighed  by  the  scientist ;  Der- 
javine  is  nothing  but  poet.^  His  keeping  closer  to  life, 
though  it  did  not  always  produce  happy  results  from 
the  aesthetical  point  of  view,  is  nevertheless  impor- 
tant in  the  historical  development  of  our  literature. 
In  the  pseudo-classical  temple  those  specimens  of  bad 
taste  to  which  we  have  referred  were  bold  innovations 
which  opened  the  doors  to  torrents  of  real  life.* 

Another  element  which  still  more  undermined  the 
authority  of  the  pseudo-classical  sanctuary  was  the 
satirical  movement  of  the  time.  With  Kantemir,  sa- 
tirical literature  became  an  ally  of  the  new  ideas,  and 
the  Empress  Catherine  availed  herself  of  this  powerful 
means  of  educating  and  directing  public  opinion. 

In  the  private  imperial  theatre  of  the  Hermitage 
palace  in  St.  Petersburg,*  performances,  perhaps  unique 
in  history,  were  taking  place.  On  the  stage  the  meas- 
ures of  the  government,  and  innovations  in  social  life, 

^  It  has  been  translated  into  German,  French,  English,  Italian,  Span- 
ish, Polish,  Tschech,  Latin,  and  Japanese.     (Fifteen  French  translations.) 

*  Belinsky,  Works,  voL  viii. 

»  "  Dcrjavine's  poetry,"  says  BeUnsky,  « is  a  brilliant  page  of  the  history 
ofjlussian  poetry;  it  is  not  yet  poetry."     Works,  vol.  vii. 

*  The  beautiful  picture  gallery  of  the  Hermitage  palace  was  Started  by 
Catherine  the  Great.  The  reproduction  of  Raphael's  loggia  of  the  Vatican 
was  executed  at  her  order.  Goethe,  whUe  in  Rome,  saw  the  copies  of  the 
frescoes  being  made.     ("  Italienische  Reise."     3d  of  September,  1787.) 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  159 

were  criticised  and  abused  by  old  ladies  deploring  "the 
good  old  time,"  by  obscurantist  adherents  of  the  past, 
by  idle  youths  who  would  neither  learn  nor  serve ;  .and 
in  the  hall,  on  the  picturesque  amphitheatre  of  marble 
seats,  the  brilliant  court  surrounding  the  Empress  was 
exulting  and  applauding.  An  old  lady  on  the  stage  is 
exasperated  at  these  new  plays  where  people  are  por- 
trayed and  made  fun  of.  "  But  why  are  such  kind  of 
plays  permitted?"  exclaims  her  interlocutor.  "Why, 
my  dear  man,"  bursts  out  the  old  lady,  "  what  if  those 
themselves  who  ought  to  be  interested  in  forbidding 
them  exult  more  than  anyone  else ! "  The  Empress, 
indeed,  exulted  "  more  than  anyone  else,"  for  she  was 
not  only  spectator  —  she  was  the  author. 

Portraits,  in  fact,  were  presented,  but  they  were  raised 
to  types,  and  became  portraits  of  customs,  not  of  peo- 
ple ;  they  belonged  to  literature,  sometimes  to  poli- 
tics,^ not  to  gossip.  And  they  were  sharply  drawn,  for 
Catherine  had  a  good  equipment  of  observation  and 
knowledge  of  human  nature.  Few  sovereigns  knew 
their  surrounding  as  she  did.  In  that  crowd  of  min- 
isters, diplomatists,  writers,  scientists,  which  composed 
her  court,  she  knew  every  single  character.  When  in 
her  letters  she  happens  to  mention  some  of  them, 
her  few  strokes  are  always  to  the  point ;  she  knows  the 
qualities  and  weaknesses  of  everyone.  Fond  of  men 
of  talents,  she  lifted  them  out  of  the  multitude,  she 
helped  their  individualization,  and  the  imperial  benevo- 
lence imposed  them  upon  society.  At  her  court,  how- 
ever numerous  the  crowd,  she  recognizes  in  each  his 
moral  physiognomy,  his  intellectual  rank,  and  gives  to 

»  See  A.  Brueckner,  "  Eine  komische  Oper  aus  dem  Jahre  1788,"  ia 
-'  Baltische  MonatsschrifU"     1867. 


i6o  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 

each  his  nickname.  They  have  all  been  divined,  stud- 
ied, and  labelled  by  the  Empress ;  she  has  a  different 
way  of  talking,  a  different  selection  of  wits,  according 
to  her  interlocutor.^  Her  brightness,  her  versatility, 
the  extent  of  her  knowledge,  the  inexhaustibleness  of 
gayety  she  possessed  and  infused  into  others,  can  hardly 
be  conceived  even  from  her  own  letters.^  "When  I 
used  to  part  from  the  Empress,"  says  Grimm,  "  I  often 
felt  so  electrified  that  for  half  the  night  I  used  to  walk 
up  and  down  in  my  room."  ^ 

These  qualities,  added  to  a  wonderful  mastery  of 
the  Russian  language,  could  not  but  communicate  a 
great  value  to  Catherine's  writings.*  They  had  still 
another  importance.  "  Her  comedies,"  says  a  critic,  "  are 
a  brilliant  tribute  paid  to  the  authority  of  thought  and 
to  the  moral  sovereignty  of  literature."^  There  was  an 
outburst  of  periodicals  in  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow. 
This  kind  of  publication  was  not  new;  Soumarokov, 
under  Empress  Elizabeth,  had  founded  the  first  Russian 
periodical  in  1759.  "The  Busy  Bee"  lasted  one  year, 
yet  it  called  forth  a  number  of  imitations.  In  the  one 
year,  1769,  seven  new  publications  appear,  always  in 
the  satirical  tone.     The  campaign  they  led  was  directed 

1  Particulars  on  Catherine's  court :  Hardt,  "  Memoires  d'un  gentil- 
homme  Suedois."     Berlin,  1788. 

2  On  Catherine's  character :  A.  Brueckner,  "  Zur  Characteristic  der 
Kaiserin  Catharina,"  in  "  Russische  Revue,"  v. 

'  A.  Brueckner,  "Catharina  II." 

*  Catherine  left  fourteen  comedies,  nine  operas  (text),   seven   prov- 
erbs  (short   plays),  and  other  writings  not  in  dramatic  form.     (French 
translations :  "  O  temps,  O  mueurs !  "  Comedie,  trad,  par  Leclerc.     Paris,  * 
1826.    "Le  Czarevitz  Chlore,  conte  moral."     Berlin,  1782.) 

*  Prince  Viazemsky,  "  Von  Wiezin."  (Works.  9  vols.  St.  Peters- 
burg, 1878-1884.) 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  i6i 

on  the  old  subject :  resistance  to  or  misunderstanding 
of  the  reform,  obscurantism  or  superficial  dandyism; 
but  new  subjects  also  were  introduced  :  the  pre-eminence 
of  the  foreign  element  in  the  upper  classes,  the  insuffi- 
cient interest  in  that  which  is  purely  Russian,  provincial 
bribery,  domestic  despotism.  The  latter  furnished  the 
subject  of  a  play  which  is  like  the  foundation-stone  of 
the  Russian  comedy. 

"The  Under-aged,"  by  Von  Wiezin  (1745-1792),  is 
an  interesting  monument  in  our  literary  evolution,  mark- 
ing a  rapid  step  on  the  way  of  emancipation  from  the 
tyranny  of  pseudo-classical  forms.  The  comedies  which 
preceded  Von  Wiezin  presented  pictures  of  would-be 
Russian  life  set  in  French  frames  —  an  attempt  which 
proved  most  ridiculous  in  its  results.  Boileau  says  that 
Ronsard  was  "talking"  Greek  and  Latin  in  French. 
In  our  first  comedies,  even  in  those  of  Soumarokov,  peo- 
ple were  "  living  "  French  in  Russian.  The  well-known 
names  of  Alceste,  Oronte,  consecrated  by  Moliere,  illus- 
trate the  play-bills  ;  sometimes  they  alternate  with  Rus- 
sian names,  but  no  Russian  element  enters  into  the 
characters  or  the  plot  where  housemaids  and  valets 
are  the  indispensable  spring,  and  the  marriage  agree- 
ment the  inevitable  solution. 

Von  Wiezin,  in  his  comedy,  breaks  the  chains  of  this 
imposed  tradition ;  adherence  to  the  old  pattern  makes 
itself  felt,  indeed,  in  that  sort  of  symmetrical  disposition 
of  the  characters  by  which  each  vice  has  its  counterpart 
of  virtue ;  also  in  the  abuse  of  sermonizing  and  theoriz- 
ing ;  but  the  personages,  the  interests,  are  all  genuinely 
national.  The  plot  is  the  eternal  story  of  two  lovers  — 
obstacles  and  a  marriage.  The  obstacle,  in  this  case, 
is  a  despotic  mother  who  wants  the  girl  for  her  son. 


1 62  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN    HISTORY 

a  grown-up  minor,  illiterate,  ignorant;  trained  in  the 
principles  of  his  parent,  who  wonders  "  what's  the  use  of 
learning  geography  ?  A  cab  takes  one  anywhere  nowa- 
days !  "  The  two  figures  —  that  of  the  mother  and 
that  of  the  son  —  are  the  best  in  the  play.  The  others 
are  either  too  highly  caricatured  in  their  defects  or  too 
fastidious  in  their  virtue.  The  obstacles  are  overcome 
and  the  marriage  arranged,  thanks  to  the  girl's  uncle, 
—  a  rich  proprietor  of  gold  mines  in  Siberia,  —  the 
"  American  uncle  "  of  the  modern  French  comedy.  He 
is  the  preacher  of  the  play ;  his  endless  sermonizings  on 
honour  and  virtue  interrupt  the  action  and  make  it  very 
heavy  to  the  listener.  Our  best  critic,  Belinsky,  con- 
siders "  The  Under-aged  "  not  so  much  a  comedy  as  a 
satire  endeavouring  to  become  a  comedy.*  This  defini- 
tion makes  clear  its  defects :  not  enough  action,  and 
too  much  preaching.  And  yet  so  much  real  comical- 
ness  and  unborrowed  life  are  contained  in  the  play  that, 
although  written  1 13  years  ago,  it  carries  us  away  even 
nowadays.  The  scene  in  the  first  act,  where  the  mother 
scolds  the  tailor  for  having  cut  for  her  son  a  coat  that 
does  not  fit,  is  in  the  highest  degree  amusing.  The 
success  of  "  The  Under-aged  "  was  immense.  The  au- 
thor was  covered  with  praise.  "  Die  or  write  no  more !  " 
exclaimed,  after  the  first  performance.  Prince  Potiom- 
kin,  the  all-powerful  favourite  of  the  Empress  at  that 
time.*  Von  Wiezin  followed  the  second  part  of  the 
advice  ;  he  wrote  no  more  plays.  "  The  Under-aged  " 
has  passed  into  the  national  consciousness;  several 
proper  names  of  its  personages  have  become  familiar 

*  Works,  voL  viiL 

'  See  A.  Brueckncr,  "  Potiomkins  GlQck  and  Endc,"  in  "  Baltische 
Monatsschrift"    Neae  Folge,  L 


V 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  163 

appellations;    many    sentences    have    become    prover- 
bial. 

Such  are  the  chief  specimens  of  the  literature  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  So  far  as  brevity  has  allowed  us 
we  have  tried  to  demonstrate  that  its  character  stood  in 
harmony  with  the  character  of  the  whole  intellectual 
culture  of  the  time :  like  philosophy,  like  learning,  like 
social  customs,  literature,  a  hundred  years  ago,  was 
annexed  to  life,  not  incorporated  with  iL  Yet  that 
eighteenth  century,  so  strangely  picturesque  in  its  com- 
bination of  refinement  and  roughness,  so  pretentious  in 
its  self-content,  so  touching  in  its  attempts  of  self-edu- 
cation, so  sad  in  its  practical  insolvency, — that  eigh- 
teenth century  which  speedily  will  seem  hardly  less 
remote  than  the  seventeenth,  —  that  eighteenth  century 
deserves  gratitude  from  posterity.  Under  Peter  the 
Great,  culture  was  forced  upon  the  country;  under 
Catherine  the  Great,  it  was  being  adapted  to  the  coun- 
try.    It  had  now  to  be  assimilated. 

One  day,  in  181 5,  in  the  Lyceum,  —  the  high  school 
annexed  to  the  suburban  palace  of  Tsarskoye  Selo, — 
great  excitement  reigned  among  the  pupils:  old  Der- 
javine  was  coming  to  assist  at  the  examination.  He 
came,  the  venerable  poet  —  white-haired,  bent  under  his 
seventy-two  years.  He  nearly  slept  from  weakness 
until  the  examination  in  Russian  literature  began ;  then 
he  awoke.  The  pupils  were  speaking  of  him, — declaim- 
ing his  poems,  —  his  eyes  became  bright,  his  face  was 
illuminated,  he  was  transfigured.  A  youth  steps  forth  : 
his  hair  curls  like  that  of  a  negro,  his  lips  are  thick,  his 
eyes  are  living  coal ;  there  is  something  African  in  his 
face.  He  is  introduced  as  a  young  poet  He  b  asked 
to  recite  some  of  his  verses. 


1 64  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

"I  told  my  reminiscences,"  he  writes  later,  "stand- 
ing at  two  paces'  distance  from  Derjavine.  I  cannot 
describe  the  state  of  my  soul  when  I  came  to  the  verse 
where  I  mention  Derjavine's  name.  My  boyish  voice 
resounded,  my  heart  was  beating  in  wild  ecstasy,  I 
do  not  remember  how  I  finished,  where  I  fled  to. 
Derjavine  was  transported  ;  he  asked  for  me,  he  called 
for  me,  he  wanted  to  embrace  me.  They  looked  for 
me ;  they  did  not  find  me." 

"  My  time  has  come  to  an  end,"  said  Derjavine,  a  few 
days  later;  "another  Derjavine  shall  reveal  himself  to 
the  world,  one  who  on  the  school-bench  has  surpassed 
all  other  poets." 

Under  such  an  omen  life  was  entered  by  Poushkin. 


LECTURE   VI 

(>779-«837) 

Suddenness  and  many-sidedness  of  intellectual  growth  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  New  literary  currents  traced  back  into 
the  eighteenth  century :  Novikov  and  the  Moscovian  circle. 
Europe's  literary  horizon  at  the  opening  of  the  century. 

Sentimentalism  in  Russia.  Karamsin.  "  Letters  of  a  Rus- 
sian tourist."  "  Poor  Lizzie  "  and  the  sentimental  novel.  The 
"History  of  the  Russian  State."  Romanticism,  —  Joukovsky. 
A  new  sense  in  poetry. 

Poushkin.  His  hterary  career.  His  poetry,  —  character  of 
its  beauty,  aesthetical  excellence  and  ethical  height.  His  sub- 
ject—  life.  Russian  society  in  the  first  decades  of  the  cen- 
tury. "  Eugene  Oneguin,"  —  the  novel,  character  of  its  charm. 
Poushkin's  lyrical  poetry,  —  its  chief  features,  many-sidedness, 
harmony.     His  language.     Nationalism  and  universality. 


LECTURE   VI 

(1 779-1837) 

The  birth  of  a  poet  is  the  principal  event  in  chronology.  — 
Emerson. 


I 


N  our  introductory  lecture  we  said  that  it  was  a 
hard  task  to  put  ten  centuries  of  history  into 
eight  hours'  time. 

"  Turning  the  accomplishment  of  many  years 
Into  an  hour-glass," 


as  Shakespeare  says.  It  is,  perhaps,  still  harder  to  put 
in  the  remaining  three  lectures  the  ninety-five  years  of 
the  present  century.  The  rapidity,  the  extent,  and  the 
progressive  concentration  of  the  intellectual  activity 
have  been  such  that,  if  we  take  the  present  state  of 
the  Russian  mind,  laden  with  all  that  has  been  accom- 
plished during  this  century,  and  if  we  turn  our  looks 
backward  to  the  eighteenth,  we  are  amazed  at  the  dis- 
proportion between  the  final  and  the  starting-point. 
Our  modern  critical  spirit,  trained  on  the  basis  of 
evolution  with  its  methods  of  gradual  progress,  stands 
perplexed  at  the  suddenness  of  this  growth.  Who  has 
not  experienced  that  upsetting  sort  of  surprise  which  we 
feel  on  seeing  a  child  after  an  interval  of  several  years } 
The  same  kind  of  surprise  does  the  critic  feel  when 
comparing  the  different   periods   of    Russia's   literary 

167 


I 


1 68  PICTURES   OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

development.  The  pulsations  of  Russian  life  in  the 
middle  of  this  century  were  more  rapid  than  at  any 
time  of  her  history ;  compared  to  the  preceding  century 
Russia  seems  almost  another  state.  We  lose  our  way 
in  the  multiplicity  of  the  currents  we  have  to  trace  back 
to  their  source.  The  ramification  of  the  genealogical 
threads  is  such  that  it  seems  impossible  to  reduce  them 
to  those  few  elements  from  which  they  took  their  gen- 
esis. Without  underrating  the  value  of  the  preced- 
ing century,  to  which  we  paid  our  tribute  of  homage  in 
the  last  lecture,  we  cannot  help  wondering  at  the  dis- 
proportion of  the  succession.  However  great  the  efforts 
of  the  eighteenth  century  may  have  been,  the  results 
offered  by  the  nineteenth  make  this  latter  appear  like  a 
mountain  born  of  a  mouse.  In  our  attempt  at  inves- 
tigating the  growth  and  development  of  Russian  thought 
from  the  Catherinian  epoch  on,  we  shall  have  to  pro- 
ceed with  a  different  method  than  the  one  used  hitherto. 
We  had  been  led  through  the  preceding  centuries  by 
the  thread  of  events ;  the  material  history  was  like  the 
spine  round  which  the  facts  of  intellectual  and  literary 
life  grouped  themselves.  The  sovereigns  of  Moscow  were 
the  central  points  marking  the  succession  of  historical 
periods ;  the  history  of  Russia  was  confined  to  the  offi- 
cial history  of  Moscow.  Under  Peter  the  Great  it 
became  still  more  so ;  we  might  say  that  the  Emperor's 
biography  is  the  country's  history.  In  the  reign  of 
Catherine  we  abandoned  the  thread  of  events,  we  re- 
garded the  mere  intellectual  side;  yet  though  lieglect- 
mg  facts  of  official  history,  we  did  not  get  out  of  the 
official  circles  of  society.  The  Empress,  the  court,  St 
Petersburg,  embody  the  intellecttial  life  of  the  epoch. 
Russia's  culture  at  that  time— with  the  exception  of  a 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  169 

small  circle  which  groups  itself  round  the  University  of 
Moscow,  and  of  which  we  will  speak  later,  is  confined 
to  the  Winter  Palace,  and,  as  an  annex  to  it,  the  Acad- 
emy of  Science.  With  the  first  years  of  the  present 
century  things  change.  A  scientific  and  literary  stream 
makes  irruption  into  the  life  of  the  nation.  An  inde- 
pendent body  of  writers,  poets,  and  scientists,  by  the 
power  of  their  work  and  the  authority  of  talent,  regulate 
the  tendencies  and  establish  the  direction  of  Russian 
thought.  The  official  circles,  which  till  then  had  been 
the  only  workers  of  culture,  now  get  such  allies  that 
they  lose  the  exclusive  importance  they  had  in  the  pre- 
ceding century.  For  a  hundred  years  they  had  been  sow- 
ing ;  now  the  seeds  began  to  germinate ;  the  imported 
elements  absorbed  by  the  earth  reappear  on  the  sur- 
face regenerated,  and,  with  a  rapidity  and  exuberance 
of  growth  which  only  virgin  soils  can  produce,  gave  an 
offspring  of  intellectual  activity  which  probably  will 
never  be  surpassed  in  our  country.  If  you  consider 
that  over  two  hundred  years  separate  the  German  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  by  Luther  from  Goethe,  and  that  only 
fifty  years  separate  the  Russian  Grammar  by  Lomo- 
nossov  from  Poushkin,^  and  less  than  a  hundred  years 
lie  between  Lomonossov  and  Leo  Tolstoi,  you  will 
get  an  idea  of  the  enforced  pace  by  which  Russian 
thought  was  advancing.  To  follow  up  this  growth,  we 
shall  have  to  abandon  the  official  history;  we  should 
have  no  time  for  both.  If  in  the  preceding  lectures 
literature  has  appeared  as  an  appendix  to  events,  hence- 
forth it  will  become  the  central  point  of  our  studies,  and 
official  history  and  court  circles  will  be  considered  by 

1  As  to  their  philological  and  literary  significance  these  moments  are 
equivalent. 


I70  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN,  HISTORY 

us  only  so  far  as  they  influenced  or  were  reflected  by 
our  writers. 

With  Derjavine  the  official  character  of  our  literature 
disappears.  He  was  the  last  representative  of  that  im- 
posed poetry  which  was  the  result  of  imported  culture. 
Strange  to  say,  not  only  will  the  style  of  the  eighteenth 
century  reappear  no  more,  but  it  will  have  scarcely 
any  influence  on  the  later  literary  growth.  With  the 
exception  of  a  few  examples  offered  by  Poushkin's 
earliest  poems  —  where  it  appears  more  as  a  tribute 
to  authority  than  an  ingredient  of  poetry,  more  as  a 
debt  of  homage  than  an  inborn  taste  —  pseudo-classi- 
cism dies  childless.  None  of  the  subsequent  literary 
streams,  if  traced  back,  can  be  attached  to  Derjavine ; 
they  come  from  quite  a  different  source.  If  we  fol- 
low up  the  intellectual  currents  of  the  present  century, 
we  shall  be  led,  not  to  the  court  of  the  Empress  Cathe- 
rine, not  even  to  St.  Petersburg,  but  to  the  University  of 
Moscow;  to  the  famous  "Friendly  Scientific  Society," 
which  called  forth  so  many  enlightened  workers  in 
literature,  and  the  centre  of  which  was  the  noble  figure 
of  Novikov.  This  man,  who  devoted  his  life,  his  untir- 
ing energy,  his  whole  fortune  to  wor'ks  of  education  and 
to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  exercised  the  most  im- 
portant influence  on  the  direction  of  the  intellectual 
and  literary  forces  of  the  time. 

In  1779,  he  was  intrusted  with  the  direction  of  the 
University  Press  in  Moscow.  During  the  first  three 
years  of  his  direction  more  books  were  published  than 
dunng  the  preceding  twenty-four  years.  The  best  in- 
tellectual forces  group  themselves  round  him;  the 
"Friendly  Society"  becomes  an  enthusiastic  promoter 
of  learning,  writing,  travelling,  translating,  publishing. 


V 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  171 

A  number  of  printing  offices  spring  up  under  Novikov's 
patronage ;  the  best  periodicals  of  the  Catherinian  epoch, 
the  "  Historical  Dictionary  of  Russian  Writers,"  ^  the 
beautiful  collection  of  historical  documents  which  form 
the  thirty-one  volumes  of  the  "  Ancient  Russian  Biblio- 
theca,"  are  but  single  specimens  of  the  wonderful  activ- 
ity displayed  by  this  man,  who  spared  nothing  for 
collecting  materials  and  spreading  publications.  In  a 
time  when  official  position  and  court  honours  were  the 
only  source  of  authority,  Novikov  had  become  a  power 
without  availing  himself  of  either.  He  was  a  precur- 
sory, individual  specimen  of  the  social  forces  which,  yet 
slumbering,  were  about  to  break  out  independently  of 
the  official  circles  of  the  court.^  The  poet  Heraskov 
(1733-1807),^  superintender)t  of  the  Moscow  University, 
became  his  zealous  helper ;  the  high  school,  founded  by 
him  as  an  annex  to  the  University,  was  the  best  educa- 
tional establishment  of  the  time.  A  few  names  will 
suffice  to  show  the  literary  importance  of   Novikov's 

1  With  this  book  actually  begins  the  science  of  Russian  literature.  A.  N. 
Pypin,  "  Questions  of  Literary  History,"  "  European  Messenger,"  October, 
1893  (Russian). 

'  Unfortunately  he  had  been  involved  in  masonic  affairs  and  secret 
societies,  which  in  the  last  years  of  Catherine's  reign  excited  the  suspi- 
cion of  the  government,  alarmed  at  the  successes  of  the  French  Revolution. 
Envy  and  calumny  worked  his  undoing.  In  1782  he  was  arrested,  accused 
of  keeping  up  connections  with  foreign  revolutionists,  and  incarcerated. 
It  is  a  dark  page  among  the  brilliant  pages  of  the  Empress's  aniuds.  One 
of  the  first  acts  of  the  Emperor  Paul  I,  at  bis  accession,  was  to  release  him. 
He  was  one  of  the  finest  figures  of  Catherine's  reign. 

•  Of  no  talent,  he  nevertheless  enjoyed  a  great  reputation  in  his  time. 
His  "  Rossiade  "  and  "  Vladimir,"  epics  in  the  pseudo-classical  style, gained 
him  the  bombastic  surname  of  the  "  Russian  Homer."  He  was  the  last 
representative  of  the  old  school,  which  in  poetry  cared  less  for  inspiration 
than  for  observance  of  "  rules." 


17*  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


circle  and  the  influence  it  exercised.  The  historian 
Karamsin,  the  poet  Joukovsky,  who  says  himself  that 
his  family  was  the  stock  of  a  "  literary  dynasty  " ;  Tour- 
genieff,  president  of  the  Moscow  University,  of  the 
same  family  as  the  great  novelist;  his  sons,  students 
of  the  Gottingen  University,  who  played  a  prominent 
part  in  the  first  half  of  the  century,  were  all  either 
members  of  the  "  Friendly  Society "  or  trained  in  its 
traditions.  All  that  was  prominent  in  literature  dur- 
ing the  next  forty  years  stood  in  connection  with  this 
Moscovian  circle ;  the  teachers  of  the  lyceum  annexed 
to  the  suburban  palace  of  Tsarskoye  Selo  near  St. 
Petersburg,  in  1811,  all  came  from  Moscow.  Among 
the  brilliant  names  which  compose  the  first  set  of  its 
students,  the  name  of  Poushkin  is  the  most  brilliant -i 
he  had  been  placed  in  the  lyceum  by  the  above-men- 
tioned Tourgenieff. 

Poushkin's  first  poem  appeared  in  1818,  two  years 
after  Derjavine's  death.  I  do  not  think  any  Euro- 
pean literature  offers  a  simHar  suddenness  of  growth 
It  is  not  that  we  underrate  the  educational  influence  the 
eighteenth  century  had  on  Russia's  literary  development, 
and  on  the  formation  of  the  language;  but  you  have 
seen  yourself  how  imitative  those  writers  were,  how  little 
genuine  their  poetry  was,  -  it  seems  provoked  by  outside 
stimulants,  not  by  inner  inspirations;  it  was  adopted,  it 
was  not  our  own.  Had  we  no  other  specimens  of  poetryr 
from  that  time  to  this,  we  should  not  be  able  to  tell  what 
Russian  poetry  is  capable  of ;  for  all  that  was  produced 
by  the  eighteenth  century  was  not  real  Russian  poetry; 
It  had  not  yet  touched  the  national  soil ;  it  did  so  first  ^h 

»  The   most  promment   among    Poushkin's   comrades   were    the  r^.t 
Delng  and  Prince  Gorchakoff.  the  fut^echanceUor  ^ 


^ 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  173 

Poushkin;  and  that  by  which  the  Russian  literature 
so  wonderfully  differs  from  others  is  the  fact  that  the 
moment  it  touched  the  soil,  the  moment  poetry  became 
genuine,  it  became  sublime,  unsurpassable,  at  least, 
unsurpassed  as  yet  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  since 
Poushkin  Russian  literature  has  declined,  but  we  cer- 
tainly must  acknowledge  that  Russian  poetry  started 
with  its  culminating  point 

Before  we  pass  to  this  great  poet,  we  must  speak  of 
the  two  men  who  created  the  literary  atmosphere  of  the 
first  years  of  the  century.  They  are  the  historian  Ka- 
ramsin  and  the  poet  Joukovsky. 

You  remember  Europe's  literary  horizon  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  century :  —  the  great  revolution  had 
thundered  away,  the  streams  of  blood  had  dried  up, 
the  clouds  of  smoke  had  been  dispersed,  a  pacifying 
sunshine  seemed  to  promise  invariably  fine  weather. 
The  other  nations,  terrified  by  the  revolutionary  tempest 
in  France,  enjoyed  the  consciousness  of  having  escaped 
the  storm :  nothing  troubled  the  serenity  of  the  sky ; 
Bonaparte  had  not  yet  become  Napoleon,  he  was  not 
yet  the  conqueror,  —  he  was  the  tamer,  the  appeaser. 
The  century  opened  like  a  radiant  summer.  A  new 
literary  breeze  caressed  the  languorous  hearts;  they 
abandoned  themselves  to  its  charm.  Old  pseudo-clas- 
sical trumpets  and  wigs  —  attributes  of  decapitated 
royalty  —  are  relegated  to  the  past ;  literature  will  have 
no  attributes,  no  attire,  no  borrowed  garments ;  hence- 
forth —  naked  truth,  simplicity,  sincerity,  nature  —  noth- 
ing but  nature  shall  have  the  power  of  touching  people's 
hearts.    And  the  sentimental  novel  has  immense  vogue.^ 

>  In  fact,  the  sentimental  novel  had  appeared  much  earlier :  "  Oariasa  " 
by  Richardson,  in  1748;   the  "Sentimental  Journey,"  by  Sterne,  in  1768; 


174  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

Richardson  and  his  innumerable  imitators  are  in  all 
hands ;  tears  of  compassion  moisten  the  eyes.  But  there 
is  no  bitterness  in  those  tears ;  the  great  poetical  sufferers 
of  the  century  had  not  yet  made  their  appearance,  and 
those  tears,  though  abundant,  were  sweet.  The  new 
literature  had  such  tender  ways,  was  so  sparing;  it 
wounded  so  profoundly,  yet  did  not  hurt. 

Yet  in  spite  of  its  overdone  sentimentalism,  the  first 
romantic  breeze  had  its  importance :  it  helped  literature 
to  find  the  way  towards  human  hearts,  it  prepared  the 
latter  for  the  acceptance  of  real  poetry.  Soon  they 
were  going  to  be  moved  and  tormented  as  they  had 
never  been  before.  The  turbulent  genius  of  him  who 
sang  the  tempests  of  his  homeless  soul  was  soon  to 
disturb  the  limpidity  of  the  sky ;  from  Britain  the  cloud 
was  advancing  laden  with  thunder.  From  Weimar, 
where  the  great  German,  in  the  retreat  of  his  Olympic 
indifference,  was  reviving  the  antiquity  unveiled  by  Les- 
sing  and  Winckelmann,  the  doleful  story  of  love  and 
suicide  was  making  its  way  through  Europe.  The 
heroic  lyre  of  French  poetry  was  giving  forth  the  first 
harmonies  of  religious  revery  under  the  touch  of 
Chateaubriand.  Rising  from  behind  the  ruins  of  the 
pseudo-classical  theatre,  the  forgotten  image  of  Shake- 
speare was  revealing  itself  to  enchanted  souls.  Never 
before  had  European  minds  been  enraptured  by  such 
a  unanimous  collaboration  of  their  literary  leaders. 
Russia  is  in  the  movement 

The  introducers  of  sentimentalism,  and  of  the  first 

the  "New  Eloise,"  by  Rousseau,  in  1761;  yet  in  those  days,  the  facili- 
ties  for  the  diffusion  of  literature  were  so  inferior  to  what  they  are  tonlay, 
that  we  must  look  for  a  real  European  influence  of  a  literary  style  much 
later  than  the  moment  when  its  first  specimens  appear 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  175 

elements  of  romanticism  into  Russian  literature,  were 
the  two  above-mentioned  writers,  —  Karamsin  and  Jou- 
kovsky ;  yet  we  should  greatly  underrate  the  value  of  the 
former  were  we  to  consider  him  only  from  this  point 
of  view.  Whatever  side  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
time  we  touch,  we  must  speak  of  Karamsm :  historical 
interests,  literary  taste,  patriotic  enthusiasm,  national 
self-consciousness,  have  all  been  furthered  and  regu- 
lated by  his  literary  activity.  Noble,  tender-hearted, 
romantic  by  natural  inclination  and  not  by  mere  literary 
preference,  he  swayed  people's  minds  not  only  by  the 
qualities  of  his  work,  but  also  by  the  authority  of  his 
personal  character,  the  charm  of  which  was  such  that 
even  to-day  its  influence  has  not  vanished,  and  seems 
to  live  on  even  in  the  most  old-fashioned  of  his  writ- 
ings. 

Born  in  1766  (one  year  after  Lomonossov's  death),  the 
son  of  a  landed  proprietor,  near  Simbirsk  on  the  Volga, 
educated  in  the  enlightening  atmosphere  of  Novikov's 
circle,  Karamsin  belongs  to  both  centuries ;  and  as  his 
life,  so  his  work  is  divided  into  two  periods.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  he  is  given  exclusively  to  literary 
interests ;  he  is  at  the  head  of  a  periodical,  he  writes 
novels.  In  the  nineteenth  century  he  passes  over  to 
historical  studies  ;  he  becomes  a  scientist ;  he  writes  his 
famous  "History  of  the  Russian  State."  The  first 
work  by  which  he  attracted  public  attention  was  his 
"  Letters  of  a  Russian  Tourist."  His  great  interest  in 
foreign  literatures,  a  close  acquaintance  with  the  writ- 
ings of  contemporary  French  and  German  philoso- 
phers, a  correspondence  carried  on  with  Lavater,*  — 

1  The  French  text  edited  in  the  "  Bulletin  "  of  the  Academy  of  Sdences, 
vol.  IxxiiL     St  Petersburg,  1893. 


176  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   fflSTORY 

all  this  for  a  long  time  stimulated  his  desire  of  vis- 
iting other  countries.  In  1 789  he  went  abroad ;  he 
visited  Germany,  Switzerland,  France,  and  England. 
Returning  to  Moscow,  he  founded  a  periodical. 

"  The  Moscow  Review  "  marks  an  era  in  the  history 
of  Russian  literary  culture.  Never  yet  had  the  Russian 
public  met  with  such  a  variety  of  subjects,  with  so  much 
information  of  what  was  going  on  in  foreign  litera- 
tures, with  such  a  number  of  translations  of  modem 
writers,  with  such  interesting  and  authoritative  critical 
essays.  But  the  chief  attraction  of  the  periodical  were 
the  "  Letters  of  a  Russian  Tourist,"  by  Karamsin  him- 
self.* For  the  first  time  did  a  Russian  traveller's  diary 
display,  not  the  usual  scenes  of  picturesque  and  frivolous 
tourist  life,  but  pictures  of  literary  and  scientific  Eu- 
rope.2  "In  Konigsberg  he  pays  a  visit  to  Kant ;  in 
Berlin  he  makes  the  acquaintance  of  Nicolai,  of  the  poet 
Platner ;  at  Weimar  he  calls  on  Herder  and  Wieland ; 
at  Zurich  he  meets  Lavater,  with  whom  he  had  cor- 
responded from  Moscow.  In  Paris  he  makes  the 
acquaintance  of  Marmontel,  Barthelemy,  L^vesque,  and 
others.  He  visits  the  places  where  Voltaire  and  Rous- 
seau used  to  live,  the  scenes  where  the  '  New  Elolse ' 
had  been  written."  ^  All  this  surrounds  him  with  an 
aureole  of  literary  authority  which  no  other  writer  had 

*  "  Travek  firom  Moscow  through  Prussia,  Germany,  Switzerland,  France, 
and  England."  3  vols.  London,  1803.  French  translatioD.  Paris,  1886. 
German  translation.     6  vols.     Leipzig,  1799-1802. 

*  "  •  The  Letters  of  a  Russian  Tourist '  are  a  great  work  in  spite  of  all 
their  superficiality  and  exiguity  of  content :  for  not  only  is  that  great  which 
is  great  in  itself,  but  often  that  which  attains  a  great  result,  no  matter  by 
what  means  or  ways."     Belinsky,  Works,  vol.  viiL 

»  A.  N.  Pypin,  "The  Beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,"  "Euro- 
pean Messenger,"  August,  1895  (Russian). 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  177 


possessed  before.  His  romantic  aspirations,  warmed 
bv  a  close  contact  with  western  sentimentalism,  produce 
a  quite  unknown  fascination;  his  supple  pen,  with 
a  wonderful  mastery,  introduces  and  combines  neolo- 
gisms which  multiply  the  elements  of  speech  and 
archaisms  which  freshen  up  the  colouring  of  the  vo- 
cabulary; never  before  had  Russian  prose  obtained 
similar  power  over  the  readers. 

His  success  attained  its  pinnacle  on  the  appearance 
of  his  novel,  "  Poor  Lizzie."     A  peasant  girl  from  the 
environs  of  Moscow  abandons  herself  to  the  promises 
of  a  young  dandy,  and  when,  instead  of  keeping  them, 
he  forsakes  her  and  marries,  she  drowns  herself  in  the 
pond  which  had  been  the  mirror  of  their  happiest  hours. 
This  unpretentious  story,  which  makes  us  smile  with  its 
exaggerated  sweetness,  with  its  unconcealed  didacticism, 
with  the  disproportion  between  condition  and  the  speech 
of  its  characters,  raised  enthusiasm  among  contempo- 
raries.    For  the   first   time   people  shed  tears  over  a 
Russian  book ;  for  the  first  time  did  the  touching  inci- 
dent of   a  love-story  take  place   on   national   ground, 
between  people  of  the  race,  among  every-day  circum- 
stances.     True,   the   peasant   girl   speaks  a  language 
which  she  never  could  have  spoken,  but  it  was  a  Rus- 
sian peasant  girl  and  not  a  shepherdess  of  a  French 
pastoral ;  true,  the  Simeon  Convent  which  lies  near  the 
famous  pond  is  represented  with  "  Gothic  towers,"  but 
it  was  a  Russian  convent,  a  real  one,  which  existed  near 
Moscow,  and  people  undertook  literary  pilgrimages  to 
dream  on  the  banks  of  "  Lizzie's  pond,"  or  to  cut  their 
names  on  one  of  the  neighbouring  trees.*     "  Poor  Liz- 

1  "  His  novels  are  false  from  the  poetical  point  of  view;  yet  they  are  im- 
portant for  having  led  people's  taste  towards  that  kind  of  literature  which 


II 


178  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


zie "  had  shown  literature  its  new  direction ;  it  had 
an  important  influence,  though  if  measured  by  the 
purely  aesthetical  standard  the  novel  has  scarcely  any 
value.^ 

Strange  are  the  laws  of  literary  reactions.     Pseudo- 
classicism  dealt  with  human  passions  which  by  their 
nature  were  comprehensible  to  everybody ;  but  it  chose 
such  unnatural  heroes  that  the  passions  ceased  to  inter- 
est us.    Sentimental  romanticism  passed  over  to  common- 
place people ;  but  it  endowed  them  with  such  inappro- 
priate feelings  that  we  are  just  as  little  touched  with 
their  "  naturalness  "  as  we  were  with  the  exaggerations 
of    the  former.     The  sentimental  school  in   its   inno- 
vations had  omitted  an  important  point.     It  looked- for 
local  colour  in  everything.     Social  classes,  nationalities, 
customs,  dress,  were  differentiated,  but  not  the  human 
feelings.     Authors    did    not    consider   the   variety    of 
human  souls,  but  clothed  them  all  in  their  own  feelings 
Whoever  their  hero  was,  to  whatever  social  class  or 
country  or  historical  epoch  he  belonged,  they  endowed 
him  with  their  own  opinions,  often  with  the  collective 
creed  of  their  literary  school;  their  heroes  became  pro- 
claimers  of  their  ideas.     Karamsin  could  not  escape  the 
common  defect.     In  his  novels  it  had  but  an  aesthetical 
significance;  it  became  of  greater  importance  in  his  his- 
toncal  work. 

A  breath  of  sentimentalism  runs  through  that  won- 

^  feelings,  passions,  and  events  of  private,  inner  life."     Belinsky, 
i8.7"othe*''"'tT\"'"  P^""^   ^^^•"     ^^"^  «8°8.  -d  Kazan. 

:rs;ateT;^:Tr\s:::i^7 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  179 

derful  reconstruction  of  Russia's  past  which  is  pre- 
sented by  the  twelve  volumes  of  his  "  History  of  the 
Russian  State."  "His  views  of  history  were  rather 
those  of  an  artist  or  those  of  a  patriotic  moralist  than 
those  of  an  investigator,"  says  a  critic*  And  yet  so 
gigantic  is  the  result  of  twenty-five  years  of  work,  so 
conscientious  its  historical  basis,  so  solid  its  texture, 
that  we  easily  forgive  it  its  romantic  colouring. 

The  impression  produced  by  Karamsin's  "  History " 
at  its  appearance  was  profound  and  unique.  Think  of 
the  fascination  exercised  by  his  preceding  writings,  and 
you  will  understand  what  people  felt  when  that  same 
literary  charm,  captivating  their  minds  and  hearts,  in- 
troduced them  not  into  a  world  of  fiction,  but  into  the 
reality  of  their  own  history.  "  It  was  hke  the  egg  of 
Columbus,"  says  Poushkin.  On  the  28th  of  January, 
18 18,  Karamsin  presented  the  Emperor  Alexander  I 
with  the  first  eight  volumes,  and  in  twenty-five  days 
the  edition  of  thirty  thousand  copies  was  exhausted. 
Much  has  been  accomplished  in  Russian  historical 
science  since,  —  no  work  has  produced  the  same  im- 
pression of  a  "  revelation."  ^  It  was  a  monumental 
reconstruction  of  Russian  history  on  a  solid  basis  of 
chronicles  and  documents  ;  ^  the  "  Annotations  "  reveal 
an  almost  universal  learning  in  the  author  who  had  set 
4 

'  A.  N.  FN'pin,  "  Beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century." 
-  "  Though  rejected  by  historical  and  philosophical  criticism  from  the 
number  of  the  works  which  satisfy  the  contemporary  mind,  Karamsin's 
'  History'  will  remain  forever  a  great  work  in  the  history  of  Russian  litera- 
ture in  general,  and  especially  in  the  history  of  Russian  historical  lit- 
erature."    Belinsky,  vol.  viii.      1843. 

'Translations:  "  Histoire  de  I'Empire  de  Russie."  II  vols.  Paris, 
1819-1826.  "Geschichte  des  Russischen  Reiches."  Riga,  1820-1827. 
"Istoria  deir  impero  di  Russia."     8  vols.     Venice,  1820-1824. 


i 

\ 


i8o  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


to  work  as  a  poet  and  at  the  contact  of  the  archives 
had  by  degrees  grown  to  be  a  scientific  historian.^ 

His  personality,  like  his  work,  has  a  glory  of  its  own. 
"Karamsin  is  dear  to  us,"  says  a  critic,  "not  only  by 
that  which  he  accomplished,  but  by  that  which  he  was. 
He  was  a  Russian  by  feeling,  not  alone  by  birth.  .  .  . 
But  being  a  Russian  he  was  a  man,  and  nothing  human 
did  he  consider  strange  to  him  ;  he  was  a  son  of  univer- 
sal civilization.  ...     He  dives  into  the  depths  of  our 
past,  out  of  forgotten  archives  he  resuscitates  for  the 
Russian  people  the  memories  of  its  antiquity;  but  he 
remains  a  son  of  his  epoch,  and  he  loves  the  roots  of 
the  past  in  the  bloom  of  the  present."  ^     Seldom  has  a 
writer's  personality  been  surrounded  with  more  defer- 
ence.    It  has  been  said  that  he  was  the  first  who  "  by  his 
talent,  his  culture,  and  his  moral  qualities  elevated  the 
title  of  author  in  our  fatherland."  ^     He  never  accepted 
any  official  situation ;    asked  to  take  a  professorship, 
first  at  the  University  of  Dorpat,  later  at  the  University 
of  Harkov,  he  declined  both  offers;  till  the  end  of  his 
days  he  remained  "  historiographer  by  appointment." 
In  the  spring  of  1826,  by  order  of  the  Emperor  Nico- 
las I,  a  man-of-war  was  standing  in  readiness  to  take  the 
invalid  historian  to  Italy ;   but  he  was  unable  to  avail 
himself  of  this  last  mark  of  imperial  favour.     He  died 
on  the  22d  of  May.  » 

A  still  greater  harmony  between  individual  inclina- 

*  "  Had  we  the  misfortune  of  losing  all  documental  sources,  science 
might  still  continue  its  way  and  progress  relying  upon  his  work.  Another 
history  is  contained  in  his '  Annotations,'  a  history  in  its  own  words."  Po- 
gadin,  Works,  vol.  ii  (Russian). 

2  M.  Katkoff:  leading  article  in  the  "Moscow  Gazette,"  l866,No.  254- 

»  Galahov,  "  History  of  Russian  Literature,"  voL  iL 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  i8i 

tions  and  the  literary  tendencies  of  the  time  is  presented 
by  his  friend,  Joukovsky  (1783-1852),  the  tender  poet 
of  romantic  melancholy,*  Strange  to  say,  though  with 
him  Russian  poetry  made  a  decided  and  important  step 
forward,  he  hardly  seems  to  deserve  the  credit  of  his 
own  work.  He  seems  irresponsible  for  his  fame.  So 
much  does  his  poetry  appear  as  the  immediate  genuine 
result  of  his  nature,  that  if  his  critical  essays  did  not 
prove  the  contrary,  we  might  think  he  was  an  imcon- 
scious  innovator;  whereas  he  was  perfectly  aware  of 
his  significance.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  he  calls  him- 
self "  father  of  German  romanticism  in  Russia,  and 
poetical  tutor  of  German  and  English  witches  and 
devils."  And  in  fact  all  that  was  congenial  to  his 
romantic  soul  in  European  literature  was  absorbed, 
assimilated,  and  rendered  in  his  ballads.  He  became 
the  channel  through  which  romanticism  inundated  Rus- 
sian poetry ;  he  gave  the  last  blow  to  expiring  pseudo- 
classicism,  and  freed  poetry  from  the  folly  of  sen- 
timentalism.2     But  all  this  was  accomplished  without 

1  The  best  biography  of  Joukovsky :  Dr.  Carl  von  Seidlitz,  **  Wassily 
Andreyevitsch  Joukofeky.  Ein  russisches  Dichterlebcn."  Mitao,  1870 
(and  a  second  edition). 

2  Some  critics  detect  traits  of  pseudo-classicism  in  Joukovsky,  for  instance 
in  his  poem,  "  The  Bard  in  the  Russian  Camp,"  where  Russian  soldiers 
appear  in  the  attire  of  Roman  warriors.  Yet  we  are  inclined  to  take  it 
less  as  a  survival  of  pseudo-classicism  than  as  a  literary  manifestation  of  the 
so-called  "  Empire  style,"  which  imposed  itself  on  all  Exirope  under  Napo- 
leon I.  It  is  the  same  influence  in  virtue  of  which  on  the  medals  com- 
memorating the  "  Fatherland  War,"  Russians  are  represented  as  ancient 
Romans.  Everything  in  those  days,  even  church  architecture,  was  under- 
going the  influence  of  that  heroic  military  style.  No  wonder  that  romantic 
poetry  drew  up  its  misf-fn-teene  from  the  same  source.  An  interesting 
example  is  this  of  plastic  arts  influencing  literature;  it  can  be  traced  op 
not  only  in  Joukovsky  and  in  Russia  but  elsewhere  also. 


1 82  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

any  fighting  on  his  part ;  he  did  not  actively  set  himself 
against  the  pseudo-classical  current ;  he  simply  let  the 
dreamy  aspirations  of  his  soul  float  down  the  general 
stream  of  romanticism  which  was  bearing  along  the 
western  literature  of  the  time.  Therefore,  we  might 
call  him,  at  any  rate,  a  passive,  if  not  an  unconscious, 
innovator. 

Joukovsky  presents  an  interesting  literary  figure  in 
the  sense  that  his  genuine  poems  and  his  innumerable 
translations  possess  an  equal  value :  with  his  genuine 
poems  he  implanted  romanticism  in  Russian  poetry, 
while  for  his  translations  from  German  and  English 
he  took  only  that  which  stood  in  immediate  relationship 
to  his  own  aspirations.^  This  determines  the  charming 
harmony  of  his  work  in  which  elements  of  his  own 
and  foreign  poetry  combine  in  the  atmosphere  of  an 
elegiac  serenity.*  A  constant  thought  of  the  vanity  of 
our  earthly  life,  the  certitude  of  its  continuance  beyond 
the  grave,  a  Christian  belief  in  the  sacredness  of  the 
human  soul,  a  vague  consciousness  of  some  mystic  rela- 
tionship between  the  animate  and  inanimate  world, — 
all  these  were  new  motives  in  Russian  poetry  which 
enlarged  its  horizon.  "  His  romantic  muse,"  says  the 
critic  Belinsky,  "gave  soul  and  heart  to  Russian  poetry; 
she  taught  it  the  mystery  of  suffering,  of  loss,  of  mystic 

1  Works  of  the  following  poets  were  translated  by  Joukovsky :  Gray, 
Dryden,  Southey,  Goldsmith,  Moore,  Scott,  Byron;  Goethe,  Schiller,  Uh- 
land,  Geibel,  Komer,  La  Motte-Fouquet,  Zedlitz,  Halm,  Ruckert,  Grimm, 
Chamisso.  Apart  from  these  stand  the  translations  of  "  Nal  and  Damay- 
anty  "  and  of  the  "  Odyssey." 

2  "Joukovsky  did  not  merely  translate  Schiller  and  other  German  and 
English  poets,  —  no,  he  translated  romanticism  into  Russian.  .  .  .  This  is 
Joukovsky's  significance;  this  is  his  merit  towards  Russian  literature." 
belinsky,  voL  viiL 


AND  RUSSIAN  LITERATURE  183 

relations,  and  of  anxious  strivings  towards  the  myste- 
rious world  which  has  no  name,  no  place,  and  yet  in 
which  a  young  soul  feels  its  sacred  native  land." 
Poetry  appeared  with  an  aureole  it  never  had  worn 
before.  If  you  call  to  mind  the  words  of  Trediakovsky, 
who  said  that  poetry  was  "  like  fruit  and  candy  on  a  rich 
table  after  heavy  dishes  " ;  if  you  take  into  considera- 
tion that  Derjavine  was  praising  Catherine  the  Great 
because 

"  Poetry  to  thee  is  as  pleasant, 

As  sweet,  agreeable,  and  useful 

As  lemonade  in  summer  time," 

you  will  realize  what  people  felt  when  Joukovsky  ap- 
peared, and  —  in  those  verses  of  which  Gogol  used 
to  say  that  they  were  "immaterial  like  a  vision,  and 
floating  like  the  intangible  sound  of  an  aeolian  harp  " 
—  proclaimed  in  sweet  melody  that 

"  Poetry  b  God  in  the  holy  dreams  of  earth." 

With  Joukovsky  poetry  in  Russia  receives  its  real 
place ;  it  stands  independent  above  practical  life ;  its 
limits  have  been  widened,  its  elements  multiplied.  It 
is  not  yet  real  genuine  Russian  poetry,  —  the  hour  for 
this  had  not  come;  the  earth  had,  indeed,  already 
brought  forth  her  poet,  but  he  had  riot  yet  spoken.  But 
in  the  meantime,  all  the  elements  of  a  poetry  coming 
from  abroad  had  been  introduced  into  its  domain ;  the 
language  had  been  shaped  to  sweetest  verse,  people  had 
been  shown  what  poetry  was,  what  poetry  meant,  hearts 
had  vibrated  with  purest  aspirations,  ideals  had  been 
pointed  out,  the  ways  were  cleared,  horizons  were  wid- 
ened, the  heavens  stood  open,  —  now  the  poet  might 


1 84  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN    HISTORY 

come.  And  he  came,  he  of  whom  Belinsky  said  that 
his  poetry  was  "earth  instinct  with  heaven."^ 

In  1820,  a  poem  appeared,  —  a  fairy-tale  in  popular 
style;  it  was  entitled  "  Rouslan  and  Ludmila,"  and  was 
signed  "Alexander  Poushkin."  The  name  had  not 
been  seen  before,  but  literary  circles  already  knew 
who  he  was.  A  student  of  the  Lyceum  of  Tsarskoye 
Selo,  for  some  time  past  he  had  been  attracting  the  at- 
tention of  poets  and  writers.  It  soon  became  known 
that  he  had  already  published  in  periodicals ;  that  he 
was  but  fourteen  when  his  first  boyish  poem  appeared 
in  1813  ;  that  his  were  those  poems  signed  with  the  ini- 
tials "A.  P.,"  in  one  of  which  the  author,  almost  a 
child,  declared  that  he  would  barter  the  immortality 
of  his  soul  to  secure  immortality  for  his  songs.  Those 
who  understood  poetry  expected  great  things.  Old 
Derjavine,  on  the  edge  of  the  grave,  had,  as  you  remem- 
ber, bowed  his  head  before  him  "who  on  the  school- 
bench  had  surpassed  all  other  poets  "  ;  Joukovsky  sub- 
mitted his  poems  to  his  criticism,  and  deliberately  erased 
those  verses  which  the  boy's  wonderful  intelligence 
could  not  comprehend  at  once. 

"  Nothing  can  be  compared,"  says  Belinsky,  "  to  the 
enthusiasm  and  the  indignation  raised  by  Poushkin's 
first  poem,  'Rouslan  and  Ludmila.' 2  Only  few  crea- 
tions of  genius  have  succeeded  in  provoking  such  an 
uproar  as  this  childish  poem."  3    What  a  measure  of 

^  Belinsky,  vol.  viii. 

2  German  translation  by  Goring:  "  Metrische  Uebersetzungen  aus  dem 
Russischen."  Moscow,  1833.  "  Rouslan  and  Ludmila  "  was  arranged  for 
the  stage  and  set  to  music  by  M.  Glinka,  the  author  of  the  «  Ufe  for  the 
Tsar"  (d.  1857). 

•  Belinsky,  voL  viiL 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  185 


the  progress  presented  by  Poushkin's  career  does  this 
statement  give  us!     He  inaugurates  a  new  period  of 
genuine  art,   he  is  the   culminating  point  of  Russian 
poetry,    and   his   first   poem  —  greeted   by  some  as   a 
sunrise,    reviled    by    others    as    an    insolent    attempt 
against   established    classicism  —  is   mere   childishness 
compared  to  his  subsequent  work.     The  magnitude  of 
his  literary  career  will  appear  still  more  striking  if  we 
consider  its  duration.     The  first  chapters  of  "  Rouslan 
and  Ludmila"  were  written  in  1818,  —  he  was  nineteen 
years  old.     On  the  27th  of  January,  1837,  ^^  ^^  mor- 
tally wounded  in  a  duel.^     Nineteen  years  had  been 
allotted  to  him  to  become  what  he  was,  —  the  glory  of  a 
country,  the  summit  of  a  nation's  poetry,  the  implanter 
of  the  jalons  of  a  future  literature,  among  the  great 
poets  of  the  world  one  of  the  greatest.      And  yet,  it 
remains  a  burning  wound  for  a  Russian  heart,  an  insult- 
ing cruelty  on  the  part  of  destiny,  to  have  to  consider  as 
the  work  of  an  accomplished  career  that  which  was  the 
scant  fruit  of  life  cut  short.     It  required  several  years 
before  Russian  critics  realized  the  fact  and  found  the 
necessary  calm  for  the  forming  of  a  true  judgment  of 
his  career  and  of  his  work.     Belinsky  made  the  first 
attempt  in   1843  at  examining   Poushkin's  work  as  an 
accomplished   cycle;    his   famous   volume  viii,  written 
less  than  ten  years  after  Poushkin's  death,'  is  a  won- 
derful monument  to  his  memory.     Since  then,  critical 

1  He  died  three  days  later,  in  the  house  of  Prince  P.  Wolkonsky,  13 
Moyka.  A  commemorative  plate  adorns  the  facade.  Poushkin's  adver- 
sary, the  French  Baron,  Dantes  de  Heckeren,  died  at  Sultz  (Alsace)  on 
the  5th  of  November,  1895,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 

2  The  articles  which  compose  vol.  viii  of  his  works  appeared  in  the 
••  Fatherland  Records"  of  St.  Petersburg,  during  the  years  1843-1846. 


1 86  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

and  biographical  researches  have  never  ceased.  The 
•'  Poushkiniana,"  a  catalogue  published  ten  years  ago, 
registers  over  4500  works  from  1827  to  1886.^ 

You  cannot  form  an  idea  of  what  a  Russian  must 
feel  when  called  upon  —  as  I  am  to-day  —  to  unveil 
before  a  foreign  audience  the  beauties  of  Poushkin's 
poetry.  An  almost  religious  veneration,  augmented  by 
the  warmth  of  patriotic  feeling,  a  love  which  is  inspired 
only  by  the  highest  and  purest  specimens  of  artistic 
expression,  prove  powerless  before  the  difficulty  of 
the  task.  The  difficulty  lies  not  only  in  the  degree 
of  beauty,  but  far  more  in  its  quality.  Beauty,  with 
Poushkin,  is,  unlike  so  many  other  poets,  an  inde- 
pendent element ;  it  is  not  accessory  to  an  idea  or  an 
opinion  or  a  philosophical  system ;  it  is  not  an  orna- 
ment, not  an  ingredient,  —  it  is  the  very  substance  of 
his  poetry.  In  our  days  of  enforced  analyzing  and 
reflection,  when  a  writer  cannot  do  less  than  profess 
a  sharply  delineated  code  of  moral  and  political  prin- 
ciples, critics  may  well  feel  disconcerted  at  this  won- 
derful man  who  sways  our  minds  and  renders  himself 
master  of  our  souls  without  letting  himself  be  classified 
in  any  philosophical  or  political  school ;  people  endeav- 
oured to  endow  him  with  a  creed,  with  a  programme ; 
the  attempt  was  made  to  render  his  civic  virtues  as 
shown  in  his  poems  responsible  for  the  impression 
produced  by  his  talent.  But  people  had  to  give  it  up, 
their  efforts  were  vain,  for  Poushkin  presented  contra- 
dictions, and  his  political  poems  were  not  his  best. 
People  ought  to  have  known  that  a  man  can  be  as 
simply  a  poet  as  a  politician  or  a  scientist.     Belinsky 

1  Composed  by  V.  Mejoff.     Edited  by  the  Imperial  Alexander  Lyceum. 
St.  Petersburg,  1886. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  187 

understood  this,  —  he  who  said  that  "the  more  Poush- 
kin  grew  as  an  artist,  the  more  did  his  individuality 
vanish  and  disappear  behind  the  wonderful  and  glori- 
ous world  of  his  contemplation."  ^  All  who  in  pjoetry 
look  for  enjoyment  of  the  soul,  and  not  for  a  statement 
of  opinions,  will  ask  nothing  more  from  Poushkin's 
"world  of  contemplation"  than  its  wonder  and  its 
glory.     The  poet  himself  did  not  mean  to  give  more. 

"  Not  for  the  tumult  of  the  woiid. 
Not  for  booty,  nor  for  fighting ; 
We  are  bom  for  inspiration. 
For  sweet  melody  and  prayor."* 

And  the  writer  who  quoted  these  verses  at  the  dedica- 
tion of  Poushkin's  monument  in  Moscow  exclaimed: 
"What  other  'usefulness'  do  you  expect?  Are  these 
verses  not  a  blessing  in  themselves  .> "  ' 

A  countryman  of  yours  whom  you  all  revere  as  an 
authority  in  questions  of  art,  one  day  defined  in  the 
following  simple  words  the  moral  value  of  aesthetic 
enjoyments :  "  By  being  beautiful  the  rose  makes  you 
good."  The  significance  of  these  words  comes  back 
to  my  mind  now  that  I  have  to  speak  of  the  beauty  of 
Poushkin's  poetry.  It  presents  such  a  fusion  of  form 
and  content  that  no  critical  power  can  part  them ;  its 
ethical  value  is  the  immediate  emanation  of  its  aestheti- 
cal  excellence. 

What  was  the  material  whence  Poushkin  abstracted 

1  Belinsky,  vol.  TiiL 

-  In  another  place  we  have  tried  to  define  (very  briefly  and  sapei6cially 
indeed)  Poushkin's  views  on  poetry  and  the  poet's  vocation.  ("The  Poet 
in  Poushkin's  Poetry."  "  Addresses."  Winship  &  Co.,  CSucago.  Unity 
Publishing  Co.,  1893.) 

»  Address  by  J.  Aksakov  on  the  7th  of  June,  1880. 


i88  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 


beauty  to  be  incarnated  in  verse?    You  remember  what 
other  poets  had  sung  of.     In  the  eighteenth  century 
they  spoke  of  events,  customs,  habits;  they  pictured 
the  outside  world ;  in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  they  sing  of  feelings,  dreams,  the  inner  world 
of  man  with  its  vague  strivings  towards  an  unknown 
world.      Poushkin  comes  and  effects  the  fusion;    the 
outside   world   becomes   reflected   in    human   feelings 
the  inner  world  is  brought  forth  from  its  seclusion,  the 
human  mind  is  turned  away  from  its  sterile  strivings 
towards  unattainable  regions  and  restored  to  earth,  for 
earthly  beauty  is  part  of  universal  beauty,  and  man's 
destmy  is  not  to  atrophy  himself  in  dreams,  but  to  exert 
himself  in  life.     Life. -this  is  what  the  poet  is  going 
to  sing  of,  and  he  is  going  to  grasp  it  in  all  its  breadth 
of  universality,  in  all  its  depth  of   individuaUty      He 
takes  life  in  the  present,  and  gives  social  pictures  of 
contemporary  Russia  (among  these  the  famous  novel 
entitled  "Eugene  Oneguin");  he  takes  life  in  historical 
distance,  and  in  his  drama  "Boris  Godounoflf,"  which 
recalls  to  life  the  "times  of  confusion,"  a  whole  coun- 
try seems   to   revive ;  ^    he  takes   life   in  ethnographi- 
cal   distance,   and    with    a    wonderful    versatility   and 
power  of  assimilation  he  gives  specimens  of  Greek  and 
Roman  poetry,  of   oriental   songs,  Spanish   romances, 
mediaeval  legends;   he  goes  to  the  root  of  popular  life 
and  with  the  material  offered  by  Russian^ongs  and 
thlT  h  .'  T"^""""'  ^"'"  P"^^^  ^^^^^^^  ^hich.  till 

henceforth  /T"'''''  ^^^^  °^  ""^^^^'  ^^^  -^i^h 
thenceforth  are  to  become  the  favourite  subject  of  Rus- 
sian writers.     Lastly,  he  descends  into  hii  own  soul ; 

translated  by  Tourgemeff  and  Viardot.     Paris,  1862.  "™»°qaes. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  189 

and  here,  the  deeper  he  goes,  the  higher  he  rises ;  the 
more  individual  he  is,  the  more  universal  he  becomes ; 
the  wonderful  series  of  his  short  lyrical  poems  is  one 
of  the  most  precious  jewels  of  man's  creation.* 

Let  us  work  our  way  through  this  life-gallery  by  ex- 
amining at  least  a  few  of  his  works.  "  Eugene  One- 
guin,"  a  novel  in  verse,  is  the  most  typical  of  Poushkin's 
creations ;  it  is  typical  in  a  double  sense :  the  subject 
being  typical  of  its  time,  the  poem  being  representative 
of  the  poet's  personality.  Yet  before  we  examine  this 
novel  we  must  throw  a  glance  on  the  society  of  the  time. 

The  Russian  society  of  the  twenties  and  thirties  of 
this  century  presents  a  character  which  has  a  charm  of 
its  own.  After  the  chaotic  process  of  formation  under 
Peter  the  Great,  after  the  period  of  awkward  adoption 
of  the  new  institutions  under  his  successors,  after  the 
imitative  superficiality  of  the  showy  court  of  Catherine 
the  Great,  and  about  the  time  of  Alexander  I,  as  you 
may  see  from  the  beautiful  social  panorama  which 
Count  Leo  Tolstoi  pictures  in  his  epic  novel,  "War 
and  Peace"  —  the  upper  classes  crystallize  themselves 
into  a  society  which,  in  spite  of  the  deficiencies  of 
its  scientific  instruction,  contains  examples  of  high  lit- 
erary education.  The  events  of  181 2  and  18 14  —  the 
invasion  of  Napoleon  I,  his  flight,  Emperor  Alexan- 
der's march  at  the  head  of  the  European  coalition,  the 
entrance  into  Paris,  Napoleon's  fall  and  Alexander's 
triumph  2  —  called    forth   in    Russia,   just   as   in   other 

*  A  very  complete  enumeration  of  Poushkin's  works,  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  Anglo-Russian  Literary  Society  (London),  3d  of  July.  Paper  by 
Mr.  F.  P.  Marchant. 

2  On  this  time,  numerous  contemporary  memoirs,  French,  Austrian, 
Prussian. 


19©  PICTURES   OF   RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

countries,  and  perhaps  more  vigorously,  an  outburst  of 
national  feeling.  Karamsin's  "History"  appeared  at 
the  right  moment.  The  upper  classes  set  themselves 
to  study  their  people  and  its  language.  By  degrees 
French  speech,  which  was  not  only  the  test  of  good 
breeding,  but  for  a  long  time  had  been  considered  the 
only  agent  of  proper  education,*  lost  its  exclusive  au- 
thority ;  elements  of  native  life  emerged  to  the  surface ; 
people  eagerly  set  to  their  study.^  A  number  of  literary 
societies  arose,  and  filled  the  air  with  discussions  on  the 
respective  merits  of  the  old  and  the  new  style  in  poetry. 
Karamsin's  reform  of  the  literary  style  had  raised  in- 
dignation among  the  elder  generation.^  Poushkin,  with 
his  youthful  enthusiasm,  appeared  to  it  still  more  disre- 
spectful. The  younger  men,  who  called  themselves  the 
"  Karamsinians,"  joined  together  and  formed  the  well- 
known  society  called  "  Arzamas."  *  The  best  literary 
forces  of  the  time — Joukovsky,  Batioushkov,^  Poushkin, 

1  Even  Poushkin,  that  artist  in  the  Russian  language,  was  writing  to 
a  friend :  "  Je  vous  parlerai  la  langue  de  TEurope,  elle  m'est  plus  fami- 
liere"  (letter  to  Chaddayev,  1820). 

2  Poushkin  in  his  country  place  wrote  down  popular  songs  which  he 
picked  up  from  peasants  and  from  his  old  nurse,  Anna  Rodionovna,  to 
whom  Russian  literature  is  indebted  for  having  initiated  the  poet  into  the 
treasures  of  our  folk-lore.  "  Before  dinner,"  he  writes  to  his  brother,  "  I 
work,  after  dinner  I  ride,  in  the  evening  I  listen  to  fairy-tales,  and  thus 
fill  up  the  gaps  of  my  pitiful  education." 

*  In  the  polemics  of  Karamsin  with  Shishkoff,  the  leader  of  the  parti- 
sans of  the  "  classical  style,"  we  may  look  for  the  first  differentiation  of 
the  two  currents  which  later  accentuated  themselves  as  Slavophilism  and 
"Westemism." 

*  The  name  of  a  town  in  the  province  of  Nijni  Novgorod. 

*  1 787-1855.  A  poet  who  composed  chiefly  in  the  style  of  the  antique 
anthology  (comparable  to  Pamy).  With  Joukovsky  he  shares  the  honour 
of  being  the  immediate  predecessor  of  Poushkin.  Had  he  not  been  fol- 
lowed by  the  latter,  his  diction  would  have  remained   for  a  long  time 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  191 

Prince  Viazemsky,^  Ouvarov* — were  members  of  the 
"Arzamas."  Society  was  captivated  by  literary  inter- 
ests. Joukovsky,  presented  at  court  by  Ouvarov,  was 
appointed  lecturer  to  the  Empress.^  The  gatherings 
in  the  "Pavilion  des  Roses"  at  her  summer  residence 
of  Pavlovsk  were  famous  in  those  days.* 

Such  were  the  centres  from  which  literary  tastes 
radiated.  We  must  say  to  the  honour  of  the  leading 
class  at  this  time  that  not  only  did  it  take  an  interest 
in  literature,  but  it  supplied  nearly  all  the  poets  and 
writers ;  in  later  times  literary  interests,  as  they  spread, 
seem  to  have  somewhat  abandoned  the  court,  but  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century  the  Russian  aristocracy 
presented  perhaps  a  unique  case  in  the  history  of  litera- 
ture—  it  actually  made  Russian  literature.  Poushkin 
belonged  to  this  class,  and  his  literary  career  began 
in   the   atmosphere  we   have  just  described.     Yet  in 

unrivalled.  Poushkin  considered  that  Batioushkov  was  for  the  Russian 
language  what  Petrarch  was  for  the  Italian.  (His  brilliant  career  was 
interrupted  by  a  mental  disease  in  1822.) 

1  1 792-1878.     Satirist  and  critic.     Under  Secretary  of  Public  Education. 

2  Minister  of  Public  Education  from  1833  to  1849. 

» The  dowager  Empress  Maria  Theodorovna  (Princess  of  Wttrtem- 
berg),  widow  of  Paul  I,  daughter-in-law  of  Catherine  the  Great,  mother 
of  Alexander  I  and  Nicholas  I;  founder  of  numerous  educational  and 
charitable  institutions  which,  after  her  death,  were  united  under  a  special 
ministry  known  as  Department  of  the  Institutions  of  the  Empress  Mary. 
See  Pr.  S.  "Wolkonsky,  "  Higher  Education  of  Women  in  Russia."  ("Ad- 
dresses."    Winship  &  Co.,  Chicago.     Unity  Publishing  Co.) 

*  A  favourite  at  these  gatherings  was  the  popular  "  Grandpa  Krylofii" 
the  well-known  fabulist  (1768-1844).  No  Russian  poet  has  obtained  as 
many  translations  as  Kryloflf.  His  works  exist  in  twenty  languages  {all 
Indo-European,  many  oriental,  and  several  Semitic) ;  there  are  seventy- 
two  French,  thirty-two  Italian,  twelve  English  translations;  the  best  among 
the  latter  ones,  by  M.  Harrison,  "  Kryloff's  Original  Fables."  London, 
1884. 


19*  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 


his  "Eugene  Oneguin"  Poushkin  does  not  introduce  us 
into  any  of  these  centres;  he  moves  in  their  neighbour- 
hood; he  does  not  picture  intellectual  or  literary  ex- 
ceptions; he  takes  the  frivolous,  average,  impersonal 
society,  the  great  anonymous  crowd  of  balls,  theatres, 
concerts,  and  other  social  gatherings,  in  the  monotony 
of  which  people  look  for  remedy  against  the  weariness 
of  indolence  and  leisure, 

Oneguin,  the  chief  personage  of  the  novel,  is  a  com- 
monplace man,  but  therefore  all  the  more  interesting 
—  the  less  exceptional  an  individual  the  more  repre- 
sentative he  is.  Poushkin's  hero  is  representative  of 
the  poet's  generation.  Trained  by  a  French  tutor, 
he  has  received  the  varnish  of  learning,— just  what 
is  necessary  for  drawing-rooms,  —  excellent  French, 
anecdotic  history  "from  Romulus  up  to  date,"  good 
manners,  dancing,  a  touch  of  Latin,  — and  he  was 
accomplished.     After  all,  as  the  author  says:  — 

"  We've  all  been  taught  in  chfldhood 
Just  anything  and  anyhow ; 
Thus  to  amaze  with  education 
Is  no  hard  problem  now." 

Thrown  into  the  whirlwind  of  Petersburg  life,  the 
young  dandy  soon  feels  bored  with  the  fastidious  pleas- 
ures of  the  world.  At  this  psychological  moment  the 
inheritance  left  by  an  uncle  calls  him  to  the  country 
Petersburg  with  its  palaces,  the  Neva  with  its  granite 
quays,  theatres,  restaurants,  actresses,  and  dancers,  van- 
ish away,  -  Russian  country  in  all  its  virgin  poetry  un- 
rolls the  green  horizons  of  its  prairies  and  forests 

By  his  neighbour  Lensky,  a  youth  just  returned  from 
the  University  of  Gottingen.  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of 


AND   RUSSIAN    LITERATURE  193 

Schiller,  and  himself  a  poet,  Oneguin  is  introduced  into 
the  house  of  old  Mrs.  Larin  and  her  two  daughters  — 
Tatiana  and  Olga.  The  younger  one  is  betrothed  to 
Lensky ;  she  is  a  cheerfully  fresh  and  healthy  girl, 
but  uninteresting.  Quite  different  is  the  elder  sister; 
fond  of  reverie,  she  prefers  nature's  solitude  to  people's 
company. 

"  And  on  her  balcony  she  often 
Anticipates  the  dawning  day." 

With  some  French  volume  on  her  knees,  Tatiana  spends 
hours  in  the  garden,  for 

"  Romantic  dreams  were  her  companions 
From  earliest  days  of  lullabies." 

Oneguin  appears  and  becomes  the  master  of  Tatiana's 
dreams.  The  poor  girl  does  not  withstand  the  impetus 
of  the  passion  which  invades  her,  and  forgetting  all  the 
precepts  of  her  education,  she  writes  a  letter  to  Oneguin 
which  is  full  of  sincerity  and  poetry.  The  dandy,  satu- 
rated with  the  love  adventures  of  drawing-rooms  and 
theatres  which  he  has  experienced  in  Petersburg,  re- 
gards the  confession  of  the  provincial  girl  as  a  nui- 
sance. He  mentally  prepares  his  answer,  and  after  a 
decent  lapse  of  time  he  calls  at  his  neighbours' ;  he 
finds  Tatiana  in  the  garden.  In  a  long  sermon,  which 
is  a  masterpiece  of  selfishness  draped  in  abnegation, 
he  pours  a  flood  of  cold  philosophy  on  her  glowing 
love,  and  rejects  a  happiness  of  which  he  professes  to 
consider  himself  unworthy.  In  the  meantime,  the  wed- 
ding day  of  Olga  and  Lensky  is  approaching.  But 
Oneguin,  tortured  with  spleen,  dissatisfied  with  others 
and  with  himself,  finds  a  cruel  pleasure  in  destroying 


194  PICTURES  OF   RUSSIAN    HISTORY 

the  happiness  of  the  lovers.  One  day,  in  a  fit  of  bad 
humour,  he  strikes  up  a  quarrel  with  Lensky,  and  pro- 
vokes him  to  a  duel.     The  young  poet  falls. 

Years  have  passed ;  years  of  discontent  and  restless 
wanderings  for  Oneguin.  We  are  again  at  St.  Peters- 
burg. In  the  dazzling  scenes  of  a  brilliant  ball  the 
high  life  of  the  capital  displays  itself  before  our  eyes. 
Oneguin  is  among  the  crowd,  as  always  —  indifferent 
and  bored.  All  at  once  he  is  struck  as  by  a  vision ;  he 
stands  petrified  ;  he  does  not  trust  his  eyes  !  "  Do  tell 
me,"  he  asks  Prince  Grenim,  the  tall  and  handsome 
general  —  "  Do  tell  me,  Prince,  who  is  that  lady  in  the 
crimson  turban,  who  is  talking  to  the  ambassador  of 
Spain  ? "  The  Prince  gazes  at  him  with  amazement, 
and  introduces  him  to  his  wife.  It  is  she,  Tatiana 
Larin ;  they  had  met  in  Moscow,  two  years  before. 

This  time  Oneguin  falls  in  love.  The  timid  girl  who 
looked  so  insignificant  in  her  homely  provincialism,  now, 
since  she  is  on  the  same  social  level  as  he,  rises  with  all 
her  moral  superiority.  He  writes  a  letter ;  his  desper- 
ate cry  of  passion  is  left  without  an  answer ;  he  writes 
another  letter,  a  third  one,  always  with  no  result.  After 
several  months  of  torment,  on  one  forenoon  he  finally 
decides  to  call  at  her  house.  The  ante-chamber  is 
empty ;  he  goes  further  —  nobody  in  the  drawing-room ; 
he  opens  one  door  more ;  pale  and  weary  in  her  morn- 
ing dress,  the  princess  is  weeping  over  a  letter. 

"  Who  would  have  not  in  this  brief  moment 
Her  silent  suffering  divined. 
And  not  discovered  in  the  peeress 
Poor  Tania  *  of  the  former  days ! " 

^  Diminutive  of  Tatiana. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  195 

He  falls  at  her  knees,  he  grasps  her  hand,  —  he 
presses  it  to  his  lips.  She  does  not  prevent  him. 
For  a  while  they  remain  so,  and  then :  — 

'•  •  Enough,'  she  says  at  last ;  '  arise, 
I  must  explain  myself.     Oneguin, 
Do  you  remember  still  the  day 
When  in  the  garden,  in  that  alley 
We  met,  and  when  so  very  humbly 
I  listened  to  your  sermoning? 
To-day  my  turn  has  come.' " 

Nothing  can  give  an  idea  of  the  beauty  of  Tatiana's 
answer.  In  a  retrospective  glance  the  story  of  her 
love,  as  it  unfolded  itself  in  the  loneliness  of  the  coun- 
try, is  disclosed  to  Oneguin's  eyes ;  Tatiana's  heart  is 
torn  by  the  love  of  him  who  rejected  her  in  those 
days,  and  the  scorn  of  him  who  persecutes  her  with  a 
love  she  cannot  accept. 

"  '  And  yet,  so  near  was  happiness, 
So  possible ! '" 

she  exclaims.     Her  last  words  fall  like  hammer-strokes 
on  his  heart. 

"  '  I  love  you,  —  feigning  would  be  useless,  — 
But  now,  Oneguin,  1  am  another's ; 
And  will  be  true  to  him  for  life.'  " 

She  leaves  the  room.  Oneguin  stands  thunderstruck. 
But  spurs  resound  behind  the  door,  Tatiana's  husband 
enters. 

At  this  wretched  moment  of  his  life,  the  poet  aban- 
dons his  hero. 

Such  are  the  pictures  of  life  which  unwind  them- 
selves   in    the    eighr  cantos    of    fluent    iambic    verse. 


196  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

What  can  render  the  charm  which  floats  over  this 
simple  story  ?  We  even  cannot  use  comparison.^  No 
other  literature  possesses  anything  of  the  kind.  In 
some  particulars  the  poem  may  be  compared  with 
Byron's  "  Don  Juan,"  but  only  in  its  exterior  forms : 
the  same  short  strophes,  the  same  rapidity,  the  same 
frequent  digressions,  and  the  same  constant  presence 
of  the  author's  personality.  Yet,  how  different  this 
personality  from  that  of  his  British  contemporary !  ^ 
Not  a  drop  of  bitterness,  —  he  is  limpid ;  the  poetical 
prism  through  which  he  contemplates  reality  is  of 
purest  crystal,  uncoloured.  And  what  does  it  not  re- 
fract !  This  man  who  was  our  greatest  romanticist 
was  at  the  same  time  our  first  realist ;  his  poetry 
shrinks  from  no  detail.  But  it  is  never  raw  life  he 
gives  us,  it  is  always  pictures  of  life  —  real,  not  embel- 
lished, yet  refracted  life  —  transfigured  by  art.  He 
makes  us  love  nature  through  his  poetry,  and  by  con- 
templating nature  we  love  his  poetry  which  has  em- 
bodied it.     What  has  it  not  incorporated!  — 

Petersburg !  The  austere  beauty  of  its  winter  scen- 
ery ;  Petersburg,  with  the  romantic  charm  of  its  "white 
nights"  in  the  spring,  when  the  sky  never  darkens, 
and  "the  dawn  hastens  to  relieve  the  evening  glow 
granting  the  night  but  half  an  hour";  Petersburg, 
with  its  monuments,  with  its  history ;   Peter  the  Great 

^  Among  the  translations  known  to  us  the  German  by  Bodenstedt  is  the 
least  unsatisfactory,  though  much  inferior  to  his  translation  of  Lermontov's 
poems.  ("  Poetische  Werke  aus  dem  Russischen  ubersetzt,"  3  B.  Berlin, 
1S54-1855.)     English  translation  by  Lieut.-Col.  Spalding,  i88i. 

2  Poushkin  in  his  younger  years  had  undergone  the  contagion  of  the 
Byronic  epidemy.  Later  he  judged  the  British  poet  severely.  "  Ce 
Byron  na  jamais  congu  qu'un  seul  caractere  —  c'est  le  sien."  (Letter  to 
Rayevsky,  1825.) 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  197 

standing  on  the  swampy  desert  shores  of  newly  con- 
quered Neva,  and  foreseeing  the  future  city  of  granite, 
the  seaport  alive  with  ships,  and  the  festal  sight  of  their 
medley  of  flags. 

Moscow!  The  sunny  air  of  its  Sunday  mornings 
filled  with  the  ringing  of  its  church  and  cathedral 
bells,  the  busy  monotony  of  its  interminable  streets, 
the  pride  of  the  "  golden-headed  "  Kremlin,  the  sombre 
figure  of  Napoleon  expecting  to  see  the  city  "  kneeling 
at  his  feet,"  —  and  the  city  answering  with  flames. 

And  the  pictures  of  society !  The  ball  at  Mrs. 
Larin's  country  house.  The  types, — what  portraits 
with  a  few  strokes  are  even  the  secondary  characters ! 
Tatiana's  old  nurse,  that  peasant  servant  who  in  her 
humble  condition  reveals  treasures  of  devotion.  The 
scene,  when  Tatiana,  in  the  torture  of  a  sleepless  night, 
questions  her  on  the  days  of  her  youth,  whether  she 
had  loved,  and  how  she  married;  the  agony  of  the 
poor  young  soul  who  for  the  first  time  realizes  that 
she  loves,  the  trouble  of  the  old  woman  who  thinks 
the  child  is  ill,  the  silence  in  the  sleeping  house,  the 
whisper  of  the  two  sitting  on  the  bed,  the  oppressing 
heat  of  the  summer  night,  and  the  cold  splendour  of 
the  "inspiring  moon," — makes  one  of  the  finest  pages 
of  all  literature. 

The  descriptions  of  nature,  the  country  scenery,  the 
times  of  the  year,  above  all,  autumn !  What  can  render 
the  charm  of  all  this,  and  the  irresistible  contagion  of 
life  which  takes  hold  of  you  and  makes  you  vibrate 
with  the  poet  ?  For  the  poet  is  omnipresent  in  what- 
ever he  describes,  infused  in  every  word;  discreet,  in 
the  background,  never  didactic,  yet  always  there,  his 
overflowing  soul  fills  everything;   the  reader  is  never 


198  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


left  alone,  he  is  made  the  confidant  of  the  poet's  joys 
and  sorrows,  the  companion  of  his  humour  and  wit. 
And  this  companionship  is  so  charming,  that  when  we 
get  to  the  end  of  the  novel  we  do  not  know  whether 
we  regret  more  to  have  to  close  the  book,  or  to  have 
to  part  with  the  author.  And  the  poet  is  aware  of  his 
charm,  he  is  conscious  of  the  part  he  plays  in  the  fas- 
cination produced  by  his  work.  Nothing  can  be  more 
touching  than  the  concluding  words,  in  which  he  takes 
leave  of  the  reader,  except,  perhaps,  the  Imes  which 
follow  them,  and  in  which  he  takes  leave  of  his  work 
and  his  characters. 

"  Farewell,  farewell,  my  strange  companion, 
»  And  thou,  O  vision  of  my  heart! 

Farewell,  my  insignificant, 
Yet  constant,  vital  work!     IVe  known 
With  you  all  that  is  dear  to  poets : 
Oblivion  of  worldly  tempests 
In  sweet  companionship  of  fiiends. 
Oh,  many,  many  days  have  vanished 
Since  young  Tatiana  and  Oneguin 
Confusedly  in  dreamy  distance 
Did  first  appear  before  my  soul, 
And  the  outlines  of  this  story 
Through  the  enchanting  crystal  prism 
I  distinctly  yet  discerned. 
But  those,  to  whom  in  fiiendly  meetings 
I  used  to  read  its  early  verse,  — 
Some  are  dispersed,  some  are  no  more, 
As  Sadi  said,  in  times  of  yore ! " 

We  also  will  take  leave  of  Oneguin  that  we  may  pass 
on  to  Poushkin's  lyrical  poems.^ 

1  "  Eugene  Onegmn  "  has  been  arranged  for  the  stage  and  set  to  music 
by  P.  Tschaikovsky.  It  is  one  of  the  most  poetical  creations  of  the  re- 
gretted composer  (d.  1893). 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  199 


It  would  be  difficult  to  state  to  what  feeling  in  Poush- 
kin's  lyrics  the  poet  gives  preference.  Love  or  friend- 
ship, sorrow  or  joy,  wit  and  laughter  or  tears  and  pain, 
—  you  cannot  say  which  is  the  poet's  favourite,  for  he 
is  equally  excellent  in  all.  In  his  artistic  contemplation 
of  life,  human  happiness  and  human  misery,  as  objects 
of  poetry,  are  of  such  equal  importance  to  him,  that 
not  only  does  he  describe  them  equally  well,  but  never 
do  they  appear  single  in  his  verse ;  as  life  itself,  so  the 
different  feelings  in  life  are  complex.  Distress  is  never 
left  without  a  consoling  beam  of  hope ;  joy  goes  never 
without  a  warning,  and  a  vague  presentiment  of  death 
floats  through  his  gayest  poems.  His  joys  are  sad, 
his  sorrows  are  transitory,  but  equally  full  and  pro- 
found. Pouring  rain  with  brilliant  sunshine,  such  is 
his  poetry.  I  do  not  think  it  is  exaggerating  if  I  say 
that,  compared  to  Poushkin,  other  lyrical  poets  appear 
one-sided.  This  complexity  of  feeling  with  a  total  ab- 
sence of  any  predominating  element  is  what  produces 
that  tranquillizing  impression  we  gather  from  Poush- 
kin's  work  as  a  whole.  The  wonderful  harmony  of 
his  poetry  comes  from  the  fact  that  all  its  elements 
are  rooted  in  the  human  soul ;  nothing  outside,  noth- 
ing supernatural,  nothing  beyond  the  reach  of  compre- 
hension, no  sterile  strivings  in  ideal  regions.  Whereas 
so  many  other  poets  divert  the  energies  of  our  soul  by 
making  them  deviate  into  a  world  of  dreams,  with 
Poushkin  they  are  confined  to  real  life ;  the  human  soul 
finds  its  joys,  as  well  as  the  remedies  against  its  pains, 
in  its  own  substance,  and  not  in  trying  to  escape  from 
its  own  self. 

We  shall  now  better  understand  Belinsky's  expres- 
sion :  "  Earth  imbued  with  heaven."    As  sorrow  is  never 


200  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


without  hope,  joy  never  without  regret,  so  earth  has  no 
value  without  heaven ;  and  so  is  heaven  to  us  mortals, 
if  taken  apart  from  earth,  like  an  ideal  without  the 
means  of  realizing  it.  Only  through  their  earthly  incor- 
poration do  our  ideal  strivings  acquire  real  value.  What 
would  remain  of  them  were  we  to  overlook  earth  in  con- 
templating heaven  ?  What  would  remain  of  the  idea  of 
a  statue  did  the  marble  fall  into  dust  ?  Like  faith  with- 
out works,  so  is  the  ideal  sterile  without  matter.  Earthly 
life  is  matter  of  heavenly  life.  We  want  earth  in  order 
to  obtain  heaven ;  we  should  destroy  our  heaven  did  we 
not  love  our  earth.  Therefore,  a  healthy,  a  vigorous, 
a  vital  poetry  is  Poushkin's.  "  It  is  not  a  poetical  lie 
which  inflames  imagination,"  says  Belinsky,  "not  one 
of  those  lies  which  make  man  hostile  at  his  first  encoun- 
ter with  reality,  and  exhausts  his  forces  in  early  useless 
struggle."  ^  No  better  book  indeed  can  be  put  into  the 
hands  of  youth ;  it  furthers  a  simultaneous  develop- 
ment, a  harmonious  growth  of  feeling,  thought,  and 
aspirations. 

One  more  word  on  Poushkin's  language.  No  idea 
of  its  magic  fascination  can  be  given  by  translation  or 
comparison.  It  is  the  finest  and  yet  the  most  natural 
Russian  verse.  The  best  of  his  lyric  poems,  those 
which  sound  like  pure  music,  are  like  the  simplest 
spoken  speech  if  we  consider  the  words  apart  from 
their  phonetic  and  inner  charm.  You  know  how  an 
index  page  of  a  music  book  looks.  Each  musical  piece 
is  represented  by  its  first  bars ;  so  appears  to  me  the 
index  page  of  Poushkin's  lyric  poems.  Most  of  them 
have  no  title ;  each  is  noted  by  its  first  line,  and  each  of 
these  lines  is  like  the  beginning  of  a  beautiful  melody. 

*  Vol.  viii. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  201 

Among  these  treasures  let  me  pick  out  one  poem,  not 
to  be  regarded  as  a  specimen  of  melody,  of  course,  in 
its  defective  English  transcription,  but  in  order  to  gfive 
you  at  least  a  feeble  touch  of  the  great  poet's  souL 

"  I  loved  you ;  though  my  love  has  in  my  bosom 
Perchance  not  died  away  completely  yet ; 
Still,  let  it  not  disturb  you  any  longer,  —  ' 

I  promise  you  shall  not  be  made  to  grieve. 

"  I  loved  you  hopelessly,  I  loved  in  silence, 
By  shyness,  then  by  jealousy  oppressed;  . 

I  loved  withal  so  tenderly,  so  truly. 
As,  God  grant,  you  be  by  others  loved." 

We  must  take  leave  of  Poushkin's  poetry  now.  We 
leave  it  with  the  sad  consciousness  of  the  insufficiency 
of  our  analysis,  for  Poushkin's  poetry  is  one  of  those 
subjects  in  regard  to  which  the  critic  feels  desperate : 
however  conscientious  his  analysis,  it  will  always  look 
as  if  he  had  spoken,  not  so  much  of  the  poet,  as  of 
"his  own  admiration.  We  have  endeavoured  to  expose 
the  reasons  of  the  deep  veneration  we  profess  towards 
Poushkin ;  whether  successful  or  not,  to  those  who 
would  suspect  us  of  too  much  enthusiasm,  we  will 
simply  answer  that  it  is  not  even  the  hundredth  part 
of  what  we  feel.* 

1  Some  translations  of  Poushkin's  prose :  "  La  fiUe  du  capitaine,"  trad, 
par  L.  Viardot.  Paris,  1866.  "  La  dame  de  pique,"  trad,  par  Prospire 
Merimee.  Brussels,  1852.  "Le  brigand  gentilhomme,"  trad,  de  C  de 
Loulay.  Paris,  1864.  "Novellen,"  ubersetzt  von  Trocbst.  Jena,  1840- 
1848.  "Geschichte  des  Pugatschewschen  Aufstandes."  UeberscUt  von 
Brandeis.  Stuttgart,  1840.  "  Le  faux  Pierre  III,"  trad,  par  le  Pr.  Aug. 
Galitzin.  Paris,  1858.  "  Russian  Romance,"  by  A.  S.  Poushkin.  Trans- 
lation by  Mrs.  J.  Buchon  Tefler.  London,  1875.  "Marie:  a  Story  of 
Russian  Love,"  translated  by  Marie  Zielinska.     McQurg,  Chicago. 


202 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN  HISTORY 


Poushkin's  national  character  has  often  been  made 
an  object  of  discussion.     In  how  far  is  he  representa- 
tive ?     In  how  far  characteristically  Russian  ?     A  man, 
it  has  been  said,  who  can  so  perfectly  assimilate  Greek 
antiquity,  romantic  Spain,  and   the  legendary  Middle 
Ages,  belongs  to  the  universe,  not  to  a  nation.     A 
French   critic   refuses   him  all   "ethnical"   colouring:* 
"Does  it  diminish  his  greatness,"  he  asks,  "if  we  take 
him  from  a  nation  and  pass  him  over  to  humanity .? "  * 
As  if  foreseeing  this  judgment,  Belinsky,  forty  years 
before,  had  answered  it  by  remarking  that  a  poet  who 
is   so  wonderful   in   picturing   other   nationalities,  ipso 
facto,  cannot  but  be  wonderful   in   picturing  his  own 
people.2     And  still   earlier,  four   years   before    Poush- 
kin's death,   Gogol  was  writing:    "Those  pictures  of 
Poushkin's,  which  are  imbued  with  Russian  spirit,  can 
be  understood  only  by  him  to  whom  Russia  is  a  father- 
land."^   Thus  his  national  value  becomes  one  of  the 
elements  of  his  universal  significance.     The  idea  has 
been  developed  by  Dostoyevsky,  who  qualifies  Poushkin 
by  a  name  which  I  find  no  other  way  of  rendering  than 
by  forming  a  Greek  word:  " navoi^porTro?," *  to  signify 
that   he  combined  all  human  qualities,   and  therefore 
belonged  to  all  nations;   while  at  the  same  time  his 
very  universality  appears  as  a  specific  national  trait.^ 
We  think  the  discussion  vain  —  vain  for  Russians. 
We  will  let  others  decide  in  how  far  Poushkin  helps  to 
the  understanding  of  the  Rtissian  character ;  that  which 

1  Vte  E.  M.  de  Vogue,  "  Le  Roman  Russe,"  1886.  «  VoL  viiL 

'  "  Arabesques."     ("  A  Few  Words  on  Poushkin.") 
♦  "  Vsechelovek,"  from  vess,  "  all,"  and  ckeloveky  "  man." 
^  Address  read  at  the  consecration  of  Poushkin's  monument  in  Mos- 
cow, 7th  of  June,  1880. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  203 

makes  him  dear  to  us  is  that  being  a  Russian  he  helped 
the  Russians  to  understand  human  character.  He  had 
foreseen  this,  his  national  significance,  when  in  his  para- 
phrase of  Horace's  Momimentum  exegi  he  says:  — 

"  And  to  my  people's  heart  shall  I  be  dear  forever, 
By  having  with  my  lyre  stirred  feelings  good  and  true." 

But  this  does  not  diminish  the  universal  value  of  him  who 
writes:  — 

"  Not  wholly  shall  I  die.     Survivor  of  the  body, 
My  soul  will  overcome  oblivion  in  its  songs, 
And  glorious  shall  I  be  as  long  as  under  heaven 
Doth  breathe  and  sing  one  poefs  soul.^^ 

Karamsin  said  that  it  was  "good  to  write  for  Rus- 
sians, still  better  to  write  for  all  men."  When  the 
world  shall  have  learned  to  read  him,  the  world  will 
see  that  Poushkin- wrote  for  all  men.  May  the  day 
come  for  every  one  of  you.  For  my  part,  I  sincerely 
hope  that  the  time  will  come  when  all  that  is  beautiful 
on  earth  will  be  made  accessible  to  everybody;  that 
portions  of  humanity  will  no  longer  be  deprived  of  that 
which  belongs  to  humanity  for  the  mere  reason  of  not 
understanding  another  nation's  language.  Goethe's 
words  that  "that  which  is  really  excellent  distinguishes 
itself  through  its  belonging  to  all  mankind  "  will  then 
be  not  only  a  theoretical  assertion,  but  the  statement 
of  a  practical  reality.  May  the  time  come  when  we 
shall  all  meet  in  those  superior  regions  where  human 
genius  has  founded  a  fatherland  for  every  man. 


V 


LECTURE  VII 

(1837-1861) 

An  epoch  of  youth.  Lermontov,  —  romantic  pessimism, 
parallel  with  Poushkin.  Koltzoff,  —  popular  element  in  poetry. 
Literary  and  other  aristocratism  of  the  time  (Nicholas  I). 

Gogol.  Genesis  of  the  naturalistic  school.  Poushkin  and 
Gogol.  Significance  of  Gogol's  appearance.  The  writer  and 
his  torment.  Gogol's  laughter  in  its  different  stages.  Place 
of  the  satire  in  national  evolution. 

"The  forties."  The  Moscow  university.  Belinsky,  —  his 
influence  as  critic.  Slavophiles  and  "  Westemists."  Scien- 
tific studies  of  national  questions.    Accession  of  Alexander  II. 


^ 


\ 


LECTURE  VII 

(1837-1861) 

This  mornings  like  the  spirit  of  a  youth 
That  means  to  be  of  note^  begins  betime. 

—  Shakespeare. 

IN  March,  1837,  a  few  weeks  after  Poushkin's 
death,  Gogol,  who  then  lived  in  Rome,  wrote  to 
a  friend :  "  No  more  terrible  news  could  I  have 
received  from  Russia.  All  enjoyment  of  life,  all  my 
best  enjoyment  has  vanished  with  him.  Nothing  did 
I  undertake  without  his  advice.  Not  a  line  did  I  write 
without  feeling  him  at  my  side.  What  would  he  say, 
what  would  he  take  notice  of,  what  would  he  laugh 
at,  what  would  he  grant  his  indestructible  eternal  ap- 
proval to,  —  this  was  the  only  thing  which  interested 
me,  the  only  thing  which  kept  up  my  strength."  In 
such  terms  did  the  founder  of  the  Russian  naturalistic 
school  deplore  the  death  of  the  great  romantic  poet 

These  words  of  Gogol  are  a  precious  link  in  the 
chain  of  Russia's  literary  development.  The  two  poles 
of  artistic  contemplation  of  life,  the  summits  of  its  ideal- 
istic beauties,  and  the  abysses  of  its  realistic  ugliness 
are  put  side  by  side ;  bound  by  the  force  of  talent, 
consecrated  by  recip^-ocal  deference,  the  two  opposite 
tendencies  flow  together  into  the  great  literary  stream 

ao7 


•si 


2o8  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

which  is  about  to  rise  and  which  will  reflect  all  that  Rus- 
sian life  has  to  reveal  in  its  yet  unexplored  horizons. 

With  Gogol,  we  touch  the  very  source  of  the  new 
literary  school,  of  the  one  which  was  to  attain  its  full 
development  towards  the  beginning  of  the  sixties,  and 
which,  through  the  works  of  Tourgenieff,  Dostoyevsky, 
and  Leo  Tolstoi,  gained  for  the  Russian  novel  the  rank 
it  nowadays  holds  in  universal  literature.  We  cannot, 
however,  yet  pass  on  to  the  great  prosaist  In  speak- 
ing of  Poushkin,  we  ascended  to  such  idealistic  heights, 
that  we  almost  forgot  the  reality  of  life.  In  speaking 
of  poetry  we  forgot  about  the  poets;  for  Poushkin  stood 
not  alone ;  a  pleiad  of  young  poets  grouped  themselves 
round  their  young  leader. 

Youthfulness,  physical  as  well  as  moral,  is  the  char- 
acteristic of  the  period.  The  spirit  of  the  time  fur- 
thered the  early  blossoming  of  talents,  and  never  did 
Russian  society  feel  younger  than  in  the  first  decade 
of  our  century.  Everybody  was  young.  The  Emperor 
Alexander  I  ascended  the  throne  at  twenty-three,  when, 
as  Victor  Hugo  would  have  said,  "the  century  was  one 
year  old."  Poushkin  revealed  himself  at  nineteen,  and 
was  killed  at  thirty-eight.  His  friend  Delvig  made  him- 
self known  in  literature  at  sixteen,  and  died  at  thirty- 
three.  Gogol  was  a  literary  celebrity  at  twenty-two, 
and  attained  his  culminating  point  with  his  famous 
comedy,  the  "Inspector,"  five  years  later.  The  other 
play  which  disputes  with  the  "Inspector"  the  sover- 
eignty over  the  Russian  comic  theatre,  "  Distress  from 
too  Much  Intellect,"  by  Griboyedov,  appeared  when 
its  author  was  twenty-eight  years  old  (1823).!     Yet  the 

1  "  Gore  ot  Ouma."  Translation  by  N.  Benardaky.  London,  1857. 
Two  German  translations.     Reval,  1831;   Leipzig,  1853. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  209 

most  wonderful  of  all,  the  youngest  among  Poushkin's 
young  contemporaries,  was  Lermontov,  who  first  ap- 
peared in  print  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  (1835),  and 
was  shot  in  a  duel  at  twenty-seven ;  in  the  course  of 
six  years  he  had  raised  himself  to  the  level  of  the 
highest  poetical  fame.  In  Russian  literature  his  name 
immediately  follows  that  of  Poushkin,  he  does  not 
merely  continue,  he  completes  his  elder  contemporary. 
Among  those  minor  poets  who  surrounded  the  author 
of  "  Eugene  Oneguin,"  Lermontov  is  the  only  one 
whose  individuality  is  powerful  enough  to  stand  inde- 
pendently, apart  from  Poushkin;  and  whereas  such 
gentle  and  pleasant  poets  as  Delvig,  Baratynsky, 
Yasykov,  in  spite  of  the  charm  of  their  language  and 
the  excellence  of  their  poetical  form,  are  but  satellites 
of  the  great  star,  Lermontov  nourishes  such  flames  of 
smothered  passion  in  his  glowing  heart,  that  he  lights 
his  own  star  with  its  own  individual  splendour.* 

We  are  far  from  Poushkin's  harmony  in  Lermontov's 
poetfy ;  earth  and  heaven  are  strongly  separated,  they 
never  mingle,  and  the  very  impossibility  of  their  fusion 
is  what  communicates  to  his  verse  its  peculiar  colouring 
of  hopeless  longing.  There  is  scarcely  any  poem  of 
his  which  gives  an  impression  of  peace,  of  content; 
when  earth  and  man  are  sad  or  wicked,  heaven  is  beau- 
tiful, but  far  and  doubtful ;  when  earth  is  beautiful,  it 
is  not  for  him ;  while  the  sun  shines  for  others,  he  is 
an  exile,  a  stranger ;  and  yet  there  is  more  regret  than 
hope  in  his  thought  of  death.  Lermontov's  German 
critic,  Bodenstedt,  cannot  conceive  how  people  could 

1  Best  translations  by  Bodenstedt :  "  Poetischer  Nachlass,"  2  B.  Berlin, 
1852.  Of  Lermontov's  prose:  "  A  Hero  of  Our  Own  Times."  London, 
1854.     «  Choix  de  NouveUes  Russes."    Translated  by  Chopin.    Paris,  1853. 

P  .  - 


2IO  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

compare  him  with  Poushkin,  for  just  the  points  in 
which  they  differ  determine  the  character  of  their 
respective  merits.  You  remember  Poushkin's  com- 
plexity, his  many-sidedness  even  in  representing  one 
feeling  ?  Never  does  he  linger  over  it ;  when  he  sufifers 
alone,  he  goes  into  the  crowd ;  when  he  sufiFers  in  the 
crowd,  he  consoles  himself  in  solitude ;  there  is  a  smile 
shining  behind  the  most  bitter  of  his  tears ;  like  a  vig- 
orous youth  conscious  of  his  resources,  he  shakes  his 
trouble  off,  and  seems  to  say :  "  Now,  enough  about 
it,  and  let  us  have  a  glass  of  sparkling  wine."  Ler- 
montov  refuses  all  consolation,  his  wounds  are  yawning, 
his  sorrow  stands  open.  And  how  deep  they  are !  As 
if  he  had  had  the  presentiment  of  the  brevity  of  his 
earthly  career,  he  seems  to  have  intensified  himself  by 
condensing  in  these  few  years  the  supply  of  sensitive- 
ness allotted  for  a  whole  life.  "  Early  did  I  begin,"  he 
exclaims,  "early  shall  I  end."  And  in  the  meantime 
he  does  not  spare  himself,  he  gives  all  he  can  g^ve ; 
he  consumes  his  heart;  a  Prometheus  of  poetry,  he 
becomes  his  own  vulture;  he  fans  his  inner  flame,  as 
if  he  wanted  his  entire  soul  to  pass  into  poetry,  that 
nothing  but  ashes  should  remain  on  the  fatal  day  when 
the  leaden  ball  should  transpierce  his  heart  "Only 
in  poetry  was  Lermontov  himself,"  says  the  akeady 
mentioned  German  critic.  Indeed,  small  of  stature, 
uncomely,  of  an  excessive  sensitiveness,  irritable,  and 
susceptible,  the  young  officer  of  the  guards  moved  in 
the  high  circles  of  Petersburg  society  with  a  mask  of 
scorn,  of  contempt,  gloomy  and  absent,  only  now  and 
then  coming  back  to  reality  in  a  flash  of  sarcastic  jest- 
ing full  of  bitterness  and  sting.  But  the  effort  to  at- 
tain indifference  was  like  a  dam  which  prevented  the 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  air 

treasures  of  the  poet's  soul  from  flowing  elsewhere 
than  in  the  channel  of  verse.  And  the  intensity  of 
feeling  in  his  poetry  is  such  that  it  amply  compensates 
for  the  relative  uniformity  of  his  mood,  while  his  poeti- 
cal forms,  the  vestments,  if  one  may  say  so,  in  which 
he  clothes  his  feelings,  present  a  wonderful  variety. 
His  verse  is  not  so  strikingly  natural  as  Poushkin's, 
it  is  not  "  spoken  speech,"  art  makes  itself  felt ;  yet  he 
has  found  new  metres,  and  obtained  harmonies  which 
even  Poushkin  does  not  possess.  In  his  poem,  the 
"  Demon,"  where  the  angel  of  evil,  exile  from  heaven, 
falls  in  love  with  a  Caucasian  girl,  the  iambic  verse  of 
"  Eugene  Oneguin "  appears  transfigured ;  none  would 
recognize  in  the  solemn  harmony  of  the  "  Demon's " 
rhythmic  texture  the  familiar,  cheerful,  and  witty  verse 
of  Poushkin's  novel. 

The  landscape  in  which  Lermontov's  poetry  moves 
is,  next  to  the  richness  of  versification,  one  of  its  great- 
est charms.  The  beauty  of  his  landscapes  strangely 
contrasts  with  the  sombre  colouring  of  his  feelings; 
his  saddest  verse  is  full  of  sun,  of  light,  of  flowers; 
the  heavens  are  of  a  radiant  blue  in  the  songs  of 
him  who  made  the  most  wonderful  translation  of 
Byron's  "My  soul  is  dark."  By  introducing  the  sce- 
nery of  the  Crimea  and  the  Caucasus  into  their  poems, 
Lermontov  and  Poushkin  widened  the  geographical 
limits  of  Russian  poetry;  it  sang  of  the  aurora  borealis 
in  the  odes  of  Lomonossov,  it  now  sings  of  vineyards, 
cypresses,  the  azure  of  skies  seen  through  fragrant 
acacia   flowers.^     "Show  me  one  book,"  says  Boden- 

1  Those  who  cannot  help  adhering  to  the  prevalent  opinion  of  Rnsaia. 
being  a  land  of  everlasting  snow  and  never  melting  ice,  might  have  their 
ideas  modified  by  the  charming  book  of  Vachon,  "La  Russie  au  solefl'* 


212  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

stedt,  "among  the  mass  of  thick  geographical,  histori- 
cal, and  other  works  on  the  Caucasus,  which  would 
give  one  a  better  and  more  lively  idea  of  the  character 
of  those  mountains  and  their  inhabitants,  than  any  of 
Lerraontov's  "Caucasian  Poems." 

In  this  brief  account  of  Lermontov's  poetry  we  have 
dwelt  on  those  sides  of  it  in  which  it  differs  from,  and 
consequently  completes,  that  of  Poushkin ;  its  range 
seems  relatively  limited,  yet  its  aesthetic  worth  is  such 
as  to  raise  Lermontov's  name  to  the  level  of  Poushkin's. 
Their  individualities  were  not  commensurable,  but  the 
excellence  of  their  poetry  is  equal ;  Lermontov  is  not 
as  many-chorded,  but  if  added  to  Poushkin's  lyre,  his 
chords  would  not  be  out  of  tune,  they  would  only  in- 
troduce into  the  limpid  harmony  of  his  major  tritone 
the  melancholy  of  minor  tones,  and  the  hopeless  bit- 
terness of  dissonances  longing  for  resolution. 

We  must  now  say  a  few  words  on  another  poet  of  the 
thirties  —  Koltzoff  (i  809-1 842).  By  introducing  the 
elements  of  popular  poetry  into  literature,  he  won  a  rank 
and  glory  of  his  own.  Free  of  any  literary  influence, 
whether  European  or  Russian,  Koltzoff  was  altogether 
a  self-made  poet.  Son  of  a  merchant  of  Voronej, 
he  had  been  taught  only  what  was  necessary  for  his 
father's  trade,  but  a  fanatical  love  for  books,  and  espe- 
cially for  poetry,  gave  him  no  rest ;  the  works  of  Jou- 
kovsky,  Poushkin,  Delvig,  and  others  fell  into  his 
hands,  and  he  also  began  to  write.  He  did  not  —  like 
others  of  the  same  pleiad  — write  much  in  his  short 
career,  — from  1834  till  1842.  He  died  early,  at  thirty- 
three,  yet  his  work  is  important.     He  was  the  first  who 

(Paris,  1886),  if  Uie  descriptions  Gogol  and  TourgeniefiF  give  of  Russian 
summers  do  not  seem  eloquent  or  reliable  enough. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  213 


introduced  popular  speech  into  poetry;  the  first  who 
made  the  peasant's  language  an  instrument  of  art; 
who  took  the  reality  of  the  peasant's  life  as  an  object 
of  fiction.  With  Koltzoff  the  peasant's  soul  breathes 
and  sings  in  the  highest  regions  of  artistic  creation; 
the  place  is  given  to  it  which  it  is  going  to  keep 
throughout  the  subsequent  development  of  Russian  lit- 
erature. Koltzoff  has  had  many  followers  in  poetry, 
but  none  of  them  has  his  charm  of  genuineness,  his 
almost  unconscious  freshness.  Nikitin  ^  was  much  more 
literary,  and  mixed  unaesthetic  town-elements  with  rural 
scenes.  Nekrassov,^  even  in  his  warmest  poems  of 
this  style,  remains  an  outsider,  an  observer.  He  speaks 
on  behalf  of  the  peasant ;  he  constitutes  himself  his 
solicitor,  whereas  with  Koltzoff  it  is  the  peasant  him- 
self who  speaks  through  the  poet.  His  pains,  his  joy, 
his  love,  all  the  events  of  his  uncomplicated  life  in  its 
continuous  dependence  upon  earth  and  weather,  appear 
in  beautiful  verse,  which  seems  as  naturally  their  ex- 
pression as  the  odour  is  the  natural  emanation  of  the 
flower.^ 

Koltzoff  is  interesting  in  another  sense.  He  is  the 
first  .writer  who  does  not  belong  to  the  aristocratic 
circles  of  St.  Petersburg.  All  the  writers  of  whom 
we  have  spoken,  from  Karamsin  and  Joukovsky  on, 
belonged  to  that  class ;  this  had  its  influence  on  the  gen- 
eral position  of  literary  work  and  literature  in  society. 
Madame  de  Stael  was  not  so  wrong  when  she  said  that 
"in  Russia  a  few  noblemen  are  occupied  with  litera- 
ture."*    Poets  and  writers  formed  a  sort  of  fellowship 

1  1824-1861.  '  1821-1877. 

«On  Koltzoff:  W.  R.  S.  Rakton,  ia  Fortnightly  Review,  SepL  15, 
lg66.  *  "  Dix  annees  d'exiL" 


ai4 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


with  an  Olympian  exclusiveness,  which  had  to  be 
broken  down  by  anyone  who  intended  to  devote  himself 
to  literature ;  there  was  no  career  possible  without  the 
consecration  and  recognition  on  the  part  of  those 
who  already  had  been  recognized  and  consecrated. 
Koltzoff,  in  his  remote  provincial  town,  felt  the  attrac- 
tion of  the  Olympian  summits.  Only  after  his  visit 
to  Petersburg,  and  his  personal  acquaintance  with 
Poushkin  and  others,  did  the  really  valuable  period  of 
his  career  begin.  But  had  he  begun  earlier,  he  would 
not  have  been  able  in  these  days  to  make  his  way  with- 
out leaving  his  native  town.i  Aristocratism  is  the  mark 
of  the  time,  and  not  only  in  literature. 

After  the  year  1825  we  are  no  longer  in  the  reign  of 
Alexander  I.  The  enlightened  grandson  of  Catherine 
the  Great,  trained  by  the  Swiss  Laharpe  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  French  philosophy,  had,  as  time  went  on, 
changed  his  ideas.  After  the  wonderful  epoch  of 
181 2-18 14,  which  brought  forth  the  fall  of  Napoleon 
and  the  reintegration  of  Europe  in  its  political  fron- 
tiers ;  after  the  triumphs  of  the  coalition  and  the  splen- 
dours of  the  congresses,^  Alexander  gradually  entered 
into  a  strain  of  abstract  romantic  religiousness,  and 
ended  his  days  plunged  in  mysticism  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  well-known  M""'-  Krudener,^  and  surrounded 

1  Nikitin  seems  to  be  the  first  poet  who  obtained  public  recognition 
without  having  ever  moved  from  his  birthplace,  which  by  the  way  is  the 
town  of  Voronej,  where  Koltzoff,  also,  was  bom  (l8o6). 

2  On  the  Congress  of  Vienna :  C"  d'Angeberg,  "  Le  Congrfes  de  Vienne 
et  les  trattes  de  1815."  Paris,  1864.  4  vols.  O*  de  la  Garde, "  Fgtes  et 
souvenirs  du  Congres  de  Vienne."  Brussels,  1843.  On  the  epoch  in 
general :  Pcrtz,  "  Leben  des  Ministers  Freiherm  von  Stein." 

8  See  Ch.  Eynard,  "  Vie  de  U^'-  de  Kriidener."  2  vols.  Paris,  1849. 
M.  Buhler,  "  Frau  von  Kruedener  auf  dem  Rappenhof,  zur  Hcilbron  nnd 
Schluchtem," 


AND   RUSSIAN    LITERATURE  215 

with  champions,  either  of  brutal  militarism,  like  Count 
Arakcheyev,  or  of  obscurantistic  mistrust,  like  Shish- 
koff.  In  1825  he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Nicho- 
las I.  The  change  of  reign  was  marked  by  the  outburst 
of  the  so-called  "  December  Revolution."  The  best 
intellectual  forces  of  the  time  took  part  in  a  movement, 
the  chief  aim  of  which  was  the  emancipation  of  the 
serfs.  But  the  time  for  this  had  not  come  yet,  and 
those  who  used  violence  were  suppressed  by  force.^ 

The  reign  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas  I  belongs  to  that 
period  of  European  history  when  concern  for  exterior 
politics  decidedly  overweighed  interior  interests.*  The 
sovereigns  of  Europe  seemed  exclusively  occupied  in 
securing  terms  of  good  harmony  among  themselves, 
not  because  it  was  considered,  as  it  is  in  our  days, 
a  condition  of  inner  prosperity,  but  because  it  was  a 
warrant  of  inner  security.  Sovereigns  could  not  do 
without  solidarity  of  action.  They  had  cleared  them- 
selves from  the  intrusion  of  the  Caesar,  but  his  memory 
was  still  alive ;  and  the  revolutionary  spirit,  fermenting 
all  over  the  continent,  burst  out  every  now  and  then. 
Therefore,  ties  of  dynastic  solidarity  were  drawn  as 
close  as  possible.  On  the  basis  of  the  Holy  Alliance, 
in  the  programme  of  which  the  romantic  idealism  of 
Alexander  I  had  been  prudently  counterbalanced  by 
the  indiscriminating  practicality  of  the  Austrian  prime 
minister,  Metternich,  the  sovereigns  of  this  time  also 
presented  a  sort  of  fellowship,  the  members  of  which, 

J  Count  Leo  Tolstoi  took  this  epoch  as  subject  for  his  novel,  "The 
Decembrists,"  which  unfortunately  he  did  not  carry  further  than  three 
chapters. 

2  On  Nicholas  I :  P.  Lacroix,  "  Histoire  de  Nicolas  I."    8  voU,     Paris,. 
186^. 


2i6  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


in  spite  of  the  differences  of  their  position  in  their 
respective  countries,  were  all  occupied  with  one  and 
the  same  idea  — the  preservation  of  the  integrity  of 
the  legitimate  European  status  quo.  It  was  not  des- 
tined to  last  long.  The  intrusion  of  another  Napo- 
leon was  to  trouble  the  harmony,  and  the  trials  of 
the  Crimean  War  in  1853  were  to  prove  that  inner 
prosperity  was  at  least  as  important  a  condition  of  a 
country's  existence  as  exterior  prestige.  But  in  the 
thirties  and  forties,  when  European  governments  formed 
something  like  a  cosmopolitan  aristocratic  association, 
all  that  was  of  inner  interest,  all  that  was  purely  na- 
tional, seemed  to  possess  a  flavour  of  democracy  which 
was  not  fitted  to  please. 

Russian  literature  in  the  person  of  its  authors  had 
broken  through  the   aristocratic    exclusiveness   of   the 
upper  classes.     Though  our  writers  had  taken  Russian 
life  as  an  object  of  fiction,  yet  it  was  not  life  in  its  whole 
volume,  it  was  visible  life ;  they  showed  the  front  of  it, 
they  did  not  show  the  back ;  they  made  a  picture,  not  a 
statue ;  you  could  not  go  round  it.     They  had  watched 
life  in  its  results,  not  in  its  formation ;  they  had  busied 
themselves  with  flowers,  not  with  roots ;  they  had  not 
yet  touched  the  vital  interests  of  the  different  social 
classes,  their  conditions,  their  relations;  nor  had  they 
treated  of  those  individual  springs  by  which  the  vast 
mechanism  of  government  operated  upon  society.    Kolt- 
zoff,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  first  representative  of  a 
new  class  among  the  writers ;  the  first  who  introduced 
new   elements   into   literature,  but   his  work   was   not 
important  enough  to  mark  a  new  epoch ;  this  honour 
belongs  to  another. 

In  the  spring  of   1831,  a  youth  of  twenty-two  was 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  217 

introduced  to  Poushkin ;  he  had  come  from  Little  Rus- 
sia two  years  before ;  he  had  entered  as  a  clerk  one  of 
the  departments  of  St.  Petersburg,  and  was  trying  his 
pen  in  poetry  and  prose.     This  was  the  future  author 
of  "  Taras  Boulba  "  and  the  "  Inspector."     Gogol  was 
received  by  the  literary  circles  with  open  arms.     The 
humble  clerk  who  spent  his  forenoons  in  writing  official 
papers  at  his  department,  and  his  afternoons  in  giving 
lessons  in  history,  was  seen  in  the  evenings  in  the  fash- 
ionable literary  drawing-rooms  of  Prince  Odoyevsky,  of 
Prince  Viazemsky,  of  the  Empress's  *  maid-of-honour,  the 
attractive  and   intelligent    Mademoiselle   RossetL*     In 
this   atmosphere,    under   the  encouraging  influence  of 
Joukovsky  and  Poushkin,  did  his  talent  ripen.     Gogol 
was  the  last  among  the  young  writers  who  belonged  to 
Poushkin's  circle ;  Koltzoff,  who  had  been  to  St  Peters- 
burg only  for  a  short  visit  in    1835  (and  again,  after 
Poushkin's  death,  in  1840),  had  been  received  into,  but 
did  not  belong  to,  the  circle. 

With  Gogol,  literature  in  Russia  ceased  to  be  a 
monopoly  of  the  drawing-room,  and  became  the  prop- 
erty of  the  nation ;  and  it  is  from  the  time  of  Gogol  on 
that  Russian  literature,  ceasing  to  be  the  property  of  a 
single  country,  has  become  a  possession  of  the  world. 

We  have  reached  the  period  when  Russian  litera- 
ture is  known  to  everybody,  or  at  any  rate  can  be 
studied  by  anyone  who  may  feel  interested  in  it  —  so 
much  has  been  translated  in  the  last  years.*    This  in  • 

1  The  Empress  Alexandra  Theodorovna,  wife  of  Nicholas  I,  sister  of 
William  I,  Emperor  of  Germany. 

2  Memoirs  of  her  daughter  in  "NouveUe  Revne."  1885,  November 
and  December. 

»  Henceforth  we  shall  give  no  more  bibliographical  information  as  to 
translations;   it  would  encumber  the  pages  and  almost  force  oat  the  text. 


2i8  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

some  ways  facilitates  our  task.  You  may  easily  conceive 
that  to  run  through  the  literary  work  of  such  giants  as 
Gogol,  Tourgenieff,  Dostoyevsky,  and  Tolstoi  requires 
a  little  more  time  than  we  have  at  our  disposal.  There- 
fore we  shall  not  examine  so  much  their  works  as  their 
place  in  the  general  evolution  of  Russian  thought.  We 
will  look  for  their  literary  genealogy,  their  relationship 
to  one  another;  we  will  consider  the  way  they  reflected 
or  influenced  contemporary  life,  the  currents  of  thought 
of  which  they  are  representative.  Thus  we  shall  get 
a  more  or  less  complete  picture  of  intellectual  Russia 
from  the  end  of  the  thirties  till  the  beginning  of  the 
sixties ;  and  at  the  close  of  our  lectures,  though  I  shall 
not  have  told  you  all  about  the  modern  writers  of 
Russia,  yet  I  shall  at  least  possess  the  consciousness 
of  having  set  before  your  eyes  some  sides  of  Russia's 
literary  life  which  can  hardly  be  gathered  from  the 
mere  reading  of  our  authors.^ 

It  is  believed  by  some  critics  that  the  Russian  natu- 
ralistic school,  the  first  representative  of  which  is  Gogol, 
had  its  founder  in  the  person  of  Poushkin.  This  judg- 
ment diminishes  the  merit  of  the  former  and  changes 
the  character  of  that  of  the  latter.  Poushkin  had  a 
great  influence  on  Gogol.  You  remember  in  what 
terms  the  young  novelist  deplored  the  poet's  death, 
"All  enjoyment  of  life,  all  my  best  enjoyment  has 
vanished  with  him." 

Poushkin  brought  light  and  order  into  the  young 
writer's  mind;  he  gave  him  the  consciousness  of  his 
power,  the  tranquillity  which  is  necessary  for  develop- 
ment of  talent,  and  which  it  finds  only  in  respect  and 

»  On  Russian  literature  in  general:  Reinholdt,  "Geschichte  der  Russ- 
ischen  Litcratur."     Leipzig  and  Berlin,  1885. 


AND  RUSSIAN  LITERATURE  219 

acknowledgment  by  others.  All  this  binds  together 
the  names  of  Gogol  and  Poushkin  with  indissoluble 
ties.  Yet  Gogol's  dependence  on  Poushkin  has  a  char- 
acter of  personal  gratitude,  not  of  literary  descent ;  the 
poet  influenced  the  novelist,  but  the  novelist's  work  is 
not  derived  from  the  poet's  work.  The  misunderstand- 
ing comes  from  the  fact  that  Poushkin,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  the  first  to  have  recourse  to  real  life.  Yet  what  a 
difference  in  the  way  of  treating  it !  The  poet,  however 
realistic,  never  forgets  to  what  school  he  belongs,  and 
when  he  takes  real  life,  it  is  not  for  itself,  but  in  order 
to  introduce  it  into  romanticism.  The  novelist  goes  to 
real  life  and  forgets  that  anything  else  exists.  He 
boldly  turns  his  back  to  any  abstract  world  of  poetr)', 
and  his  beautiful  language,  the  wonderful  colours  of  his 
imagination,  become  nothing  but  means  which  appear 
the  more  luxuriant  the  sadder  the  naked  poverty  of  the 
life  he  represents. 

Do  you  wish  to  know  in  one  word  the  new  element 
introduced  by  Gogol  >  Before  him  life  had  been  shown 
in  literature.  It  had  been  shown  in  many  of  its  varied 
aspects,  and  men  had  been  made  to  feel  in  books  as 
they  feel  in  actual  contact  with  life;  they  had  felt 
pleased,  grieved,  proud,  disgusted,  but  never  before 
had  they  felt  ashamed  of  life  — this  is  what  Gogol 
made  them  feel. 

You  must  call  to  mind  what  has  been  said  of  the 
aristocratism  of  the  time,  to  appreciate  at  its  full  value 
the  importance  of  Gogol's  appearance.  Aristocratism 
was  the  official  order  of  the  day.  Keeping  in  the 
movement,  the  writers  got  more  and  more  secluded 
in  their  Olympian  contemplation;  no  one  thought  of 
exploring  the  sad  corners  where  life  vegetated  in  the 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


miseries  of  servitude,  roughness,  ignorance,  and  super- 
stition.    After  the  softening  breeze  of  sentimentalism, 
after  the  first  blows  of  Poushkin's  realism,  society  felt 
as  if  it  had  acquitted  itself  of  all  debts  towards  reality ; 
it  had  given  a  look  into  life  out  of  the  enchanting  win- 
dow of  romanticism ;  and  now  all  doors  closed  again. 
Society  was  refined,  cultured,  more  European  than  the 
Europeans  themselves,  and  it  relapsed  into  a  feeling 
of  rest  like  one  who,  having  reached  the  top  of  the 
mountain,  has  nowhere  else  to  go.     As  baggage  from 
the  valleys,  they  had  taken  with  them  a  sort  of  theo- 
retical love  for  the  lower  people,  not  because  they  were 
human  beings,  but  because  they  represented  in  their 
eyes  the  living  material  which  embodied  the  country, — 
the  country  with  its  greatness,  its  power,  its  European 
prestige;    there    was   more    patriotic    selfishness    than 
human  sympathy  in  the  way  the  lower  people  were  cared 
for  in  those  days.    The  system  of  maintaining  the  status 
quo  carried  out  in  diplomacy  was  applied  to  inner  con- 
ditions.    People  were  thoroughly  persuaded  that  they 
lived   in   the   best   possible   world,  and   indulged  in  a 
quiet,    patriotic   self-content.     Under   such   conditions, 
Gogol's   laughter  suddenly  broke  out,  and   lifting   the 
curtain   from  the  most  sombre  corners  of  life  he  un- 
veiled the  reality  in  all  its  nakedness. 

Before  we  speak  of  this  laughter,  let  us  take  a  look 
into  the  author's  soul — it  will  save  our  explaining  many 
things.  The  following  is  the  famous  passage  begin- 
ning the  seventh  chapter  of  Gogol's  "  Dead  Souls  "  :  — 
"  Happy  the  traveller  who,  after  a  long  weary  jour- 
ney with  its  mud  and  dirt,  with  its  sleepy  station- 
keepers,  with  the  tinkling  of  the  bells,  with  its  petty 
accidents,    squabblings    with    coachmen,    blacksmiths, 


\ 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  221 

and  all  sorts  of  rascals,  at  last  beholds  the  well-known 
roof  of  his  home  with  its  lights  near  at  hand;  and 
now  he  sees  the  familiar  rooms,  he  hears  the  jo)rful 
cry  greeting  him,  the  noise  and  running  of  the  children, 
and  then  the  quiet  appeasing  speech  interrupted  with 
glowing  kisses,  —  those  kisses  full  of  power  to  chase  all 
memory  of  grief.  Happy  he  who  has  a  home,  alas  for 
him  who  has  none ! 

"Happy  the  writer  who,  neglecting  characters  weari- 
some, disagreeable,  sad  in  their  reality,  deals  only  with 
such  as  reveal  the  highest  dignity  of  man ;  the  writer 
who,  out  of  the  slough  of  his  everyday  surroundings, 
has   selected   the   few  mere  exceptions;   who  has  not 
once  changed  the  exalted  tone  of  his  lyre;  who  from 
his  height  has  never  descended  to  his  poorer  brethren; 
and  who,  without  touching  earth,  wholly  dwells  in  the 
distant  world    of   his   glorified  creations.     Doubly  en- 
viable and  beautiful  his  lot:  he  feels  at  home  among 
them,  and  in  the  meantime,  far  and  loud  resounds  his 
fame.     With  inebriating  incense  he  has  clouded  peo- 
ple's sight;  wonderfully  has  he  flattered  them;  he  has 
concealed  the  sadness  of  life,  he  has  shown  them  man 
under  a  fair  aspect.     All  are  applauding  and  running 
and  flying  after  his  triumphant  chariot.     A  great  poet 
they  call  him,  the  poet  of  the  earth,  who  soars  high 
above  all  others  as  does  the  eagle  above  all  those  who 
soar  in  the  heights  of  heaven.    At  his  mere  name  young 
ardent  hearts  palpitate  with  ecstasy;  responsive  tears 
glisten  in  all  eyes.     None  is  equal  to  him  in  power. 

"  Not  such  is  the  lot,  and  different  is  the  destiny,  of  the 
writer  who  has  ventured  to  call  to  the  surface  all  which 
passes  unseen  by  indifferent  eyes;  the  dreadful  mire 
of  petty  vanities  in  which  our  life  is  sunk,  those  cold 


PICTURES  OF   RUSSIAN    HISTORY 


every-day  characters  that  swarm  on  our  painful,  weary, 
earthy,  road ;  the  writer  who,  with  the  powerful  force 
of  his  inexorable  chisel,  has  dared  to  expose  them  in 
their  sharp  relief.     He  shall  not  reap  his  nation's  ap- 
plause, he  shall  not  see  the  grateful  tears  and  unani- 
mous transport  of  enraptured  souls ;  the  young  girl  in 
an  outburst  of  heroic  enthusiasm  will  not  fly  towards 
him  with  glowing   heart;    to  him  shall  not  be  given 
the  enchantment  of  hearing  cheers  roused  by  his  own 
words;    and   he   shall   not   escape   the   verdict  of   the 
contemporary  tribunal,  —  that   hypocritical,  insensible, 
tribunal   which  will   proclaim   as   mean-  and   base   his 
cherished  creations,  which  will  assign  him  a  contempti- 
ble place  among  the  offenders  against  humanity,  which 
will  endow  him  with  the  qualities  of  his  own  person- 
ages, refuse  to  him  heart  and  soul  and  the  sacred  flame 
of  talent.     For  the  contemporary  tribunal  will  not  ac- 
knowledge that  the  glasses  which  disclose  the  move- 
ments of   invisible  insects  are  as  wonderful   as   those 
which  reveal  the  heavens ;  for  the  contemporary  tribu- 
nal will  not  acknowledge  that  great  depth  of  feeling  is 
needed  to  draw  a  picture  from  the  slough  of  life  so  as 
to  make  it  a  masterpiece  of  creative  art ;  the  contempo- 
rary tribunal  will  not  acknowledge  that  sublime  enrapt- 
ured laughter  is  equal  to  sublime  lyrical  enthusiasm, 
and  that  an  abyss  lies  between  it  and  the  grinnings  of 
a  clown.     No,  the  contemporary  tribunal  wiU  not  ac- 
knowledge him ;  all  will  turn  with  insult  and  reproach 
against  the  repudiated  writer:   with  no  sympathy,  no 
response,  no  interest,  as  a  homeless  traveller  shall  he 
be  abandoned  in  the  middle  of  the  road.     Harsh  is  his 
destiny,  and  bitterly  shall  he  feel  his  loneliness." 
Everything  is  contained  in  this  beautiful  fragment 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  223 

The  loneliness  of  the  man  who  never  knew  the  joys  of 
family  life  except  in  days  of  early  childhood;  the  pain 
of  the  satirist  who  stands  alone  among  the  Parnassian 
poets  of  his  time ;  the  sufferings  of  him  who  thinks  he 
is  misunderstood  by  contemporaries,  and  does  not  real- 
ize that  he  is  anticipating  the  future;  the  unrealizable 
dreams  of  changing  his  style,  and  of  becoming  one  of 
those  who  tune  their  lyre  to  "exalted  tones";  the  inner 
discord  of  him  who  shall,  in  later  days,  disavow  all  he 
has  written  in  the  days  of  his  glory ;  ^  the  fluctuation  of 
his  soul  consumed  in  agonizing  struggles  between  the 
writer  and  the  pietist ;  all  the  torments  of  that  unbal- 
anced life  which  began  in  the  rural  remoteness  of  Little 
Russia,  flourished  in  the  literary  drawing-rooms  of  the 
capital,  continued  in  melancholy  wanderings  through 
Europe,  and,  after  a  disenchanting  pilgrimage  to  Jeru- 
salem, ended  in  Moscow,  atrophied  in  physical  disease 
and  mental  sterility. 

In  1 83 1,  the  "  Evenings  on  a  Farm  near  Dikanka"' 
appeared.  "  I  have  been  told,"  writes  Poushkin,  "  that 
when  the  editor  entered  the  printing-office,  he  found  the 
compositors  bursting  with  laughter.  I  congratulate  the 
public  upon  a  really  amusing  book." 

Gogol's  laughter  had  several  stages.  During  the 
first  years  of  his  stay  in  Petersburg,  among  the  misty 
streets  of  the  northern  town,  the  flowery  prairies  of  his 
beloved  Little  Russia  lived  on  in  his  memory  with  all 
the  radiant  luxury  of  their  summers.  His  descriptions 
of  peasant  and  Cossack  life  are  imbued  with  a  feeling 
of  endless  devotion,  his  humour  is  tender,  his  jokes 

*  "  Sdections  from  the  correspondence  with  friends." 
2  Dikanka  is  the  name  of  a  village  in  LitUe  Russia,  in  the  province  of 
Poltava,  belonging  to  Prince  Kochoubey. 


224  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

sparkle  on  a  background  of  love,  his  gayety  is  of  an 
almost  childish  purity  —  not  a  drop  of  bitterness,  not  a 
single  "invisible  tear"  behind  that  "visible  laughter." 
In  the  next  three  years  the  town  element  makes  irrup- 
tion into  his  idyllic  strain  of  rural  optimism ;  muddy 
pavements,  dirty  apartments,  poor  clerks,  artists  and 
writers  succumbing  in  the  dumb  tragedy  of  the  strug- 
gle for  life,  invade  some  of  his  novels^  and  introduce 
an  element  of  disenchantment  into  other  of  his  writ- 
ings, where  Little  Russian  life  still  appears  in  all  its 
picturesqueness  yet  filled  with  petty  every-day  details,^ 
or  with  epic  pictures  of  human  sufferings.^  Now, 
tears  ooze  through  his  jokes;  bitterness  glides  into 
his  heart  —  the  decomposition  of  his  optimistic  visions 
has  begun.  Soon,  beauty  will  impress  him  only  by 
the  outrages  it  endures  from  human  villany ;  the  world 
will  appear  to  him  in  that  aspect  of  degradation,  legal- 
ized by  the  monstrous  indifference  of  modem  society, 
into  which  woman  is  precipitated  by  poverty  and  mis- 
ery. "What  has  the  power  of  fiHing  us  with  greater 
compassion,"  he  exclaims,  "than  to  see  beauty  touched 
by  the  pestilential  breath  of  corruption."  Beauty  of  life 
by  and  by  fades  away,  and  reveals  ulcers  and  wounds. 
Yet  he  cannot  change  his  pen;  the  man  suffers,  the 
writer  laughs  — only  with  the  difference  that  till  then 
he  had  been  writing  in  order  to  make  people  laugh, 
now  he  writes  in  order  to  laugh  at  them. 

The  "Inspector,"  represented  for  the  first  time  in 
April,  1836,  unfolds  a  pitiful  picture  of  small  govem- 

1  "The  Portrait,"  "The  Nevsky  Avenue,"  "The  Qoak,"  and  others. 

2  "  Old' Fashioned  Farmers,"  "The  Story  about  Ivanovich  and  Ivan 
Nikoforovich,"  and  others. 

*  "  Taras  Boulba," 


V 


AND  RUSSIAN  LITERATURE  225 

mental  functionaries  vegetating  in  provincial  remote- 
ness, and  sunk  into  venality  and  bribery.  The  "  Dead 
Souls,"  which  appeared  in  1842,  unrolls  the  distant  hori- 
zons of  Russian  country  life  before  the  emancipation  of 
the  serfs,  with  its  endless  variety  of  types,  in  the  end- 
less monotony  of  interests  concentrated  on  material 
gain  and  provincial  gossip. 

"  And  not  a  single  honest  character ! "  people  were 
heard  exclaiming  as  they  left  the  theatre  after  the 
first  performance  of  the  "Inspector."  "No,"  said  the 
author,  "but  there  was  one  honest  thing  in  the  play 
during  the  whole  performance  —  and  that  honest  thing 
was  —  laughter."  ^ 

"How  is  it  possible,"  foreigners  sometimes  ask,  "that 
such  a  play  as  the  '  Inspector '  should  be  permitted  on 
the  stage  in  Russia.?"  The  fact  that  it  was  permitted 
under  the  Emperor  Nicholas  I  is  astonishing  indeed; 
yet  it  was  by  a  special  order  of  the  Emperor  himself, 
who  took  a  personal  interest  in  the  play,  that  the  "  In- 
spector" was  put  ort  the  stage.  The  fact  that  it  has 
never  since  been  taken  off  the  boards  astonishes  no 
Russian ;  the  astonishment  of  foreigners  is  comprehen- 
sible ;  they  evidently  judge  by  the  pitiless  mutilations 
the  Russian  play  had  to  endure  from  the  scissors  of  the 
German  manager,  when,  overcoming  his  hesitations,  he 
at  last  accepted  it  for  the  imperial  stage  in  Berlin  about 
a  year  ago.^ 

1  In  the  "  Departure  from  the  Theatre."  A  critical  essay  in  dramatic 
form,  where  the  author  sums  up  the  different  opinions  of  contemporary 

criticism.  -      _       „    , 

2  "  Correspondence  from  Berlin."  19th  of  April  (in  the  "New  Tmie  of 
St.  Petersburg,  21st  of  April,  1895),  by  M.  Shabelsky,  the  translator  of 
Gogol's  comedy. 

Q 


226  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

Another  remark  from  the  lips  of  foreigners  is  more 
important.  "What  a  picture  of  Russia  one  obtains 
from  Gogol's  '  Inspector '  and  '  Dead  Souls  ' !  How 
dreadful !  Not  a  single  honest  character !  "  Pardon 
me  for  being  harsh,  yet  I  cannot  help  calling  such  a 
judgment  a  revelation  of  great  lack  of  literary  sense. 
In  what  country,  I  will  ask  you,  in  what  times,  and  in 
what  literature,  has  a  satire  ever  been  accepted  as  an 
adequate  picture  of  life  in  its  whole  extent?  Why 
then,  is  it  because  so  little  is  known  about  Russia, 
that  the  saddest  corners  of  life  are  to  be  taken  as  an 
average  picture  ?  And  is  one  of  the  greatest  satirists 
of  the  world,  endowed  with  the  most  powerful  gift  of 
abstraction,  to  be  reduced  to  the  level  of  a  simple 
newspaper  reporter  who  merely  registers  facts?  No, 
let  us  not  abase  the  writer  by  underrating  the  magnify- 
ing power  of  his  insight  into  the  realities  of  life.  And 
let  us  not  traduce  a  nation  for  having  been  the  object  of 
such  a  satire ;  the  very  nation  which  was  satirized,  pro- 
duced the  satirist.  The  critical  literature  of  a  country 
does  not  lie  outside  the  national  soul ;  it  is  an  element 
— and  a  noble  element — of  its  self-consciousness.  If  a 
nation  is  made  responsible  for  the  ugliness  of  its  defi- 
ciencies, it  must  be  made  responsible  for  the  vigour  of 
its  consciousness  of  them.  A  great  satirist,  just  as  a 
great  poet,  is  a  product  of  a  nation's  evolution,  and 
whatever  he  uncovers  in  the  depths  of  human  misery, 
his  work,  as  the  poet's  work,  stands  to  the  credit  of  the 
nation.  Only  great  souls  are  capable  of  turning  all  the 
powers  of  their  intellect  against  themselves.  Only  a 
nation  whose  soul  is  steeled  for  painful  struggles  of 
self-improvement,  could  have  turned  against  itself  such 
a  venomous  sting  as  the  sublime  satire  of  Gogol. 


AND   RUSSIAN    UTERATURE  227 


With  Gogol  disappeared  the  last  representative  of 
literature  who,  by  his  personal  relations,  gravitated 
toward  the  past,  the  last  of  the  youthful  pleiad;  the 
names  which  now  are  about  to  dawn,  gravitate  toward 
the  future ;  they  are  to  form  the  second  pleiad,  whose 
activity  chiefly  belongs  to  the  sixties,  and  their  last 
.representatives  in  our  days  are  Leo  Tolstoi  in  prose, 
Maykov  and  Polonsky  in  poetry.^ 

The  decade  which  lies  between  Gogol's  "Dead  Souls" 
and  the  first  appearance  of  Leo  Tolstoi  marks  an  im- 
portant moment  in  our  intellectual  life.  As  the  intel- 
lectual tendencies  of  the  time  were  chiefly  accentuated 
from  1840  on,  the  whole  epoch  has  received  the 
appellation  of  this  date.  "  The  forties  "  in  Russia  is  a 
word  which  has  a  charm  of  its  own;  it  possesses  an 
uplifting  power  which  raises  one  to  idealistic  regions  of 
scientific,  literary,  and  philosophical  discussions,  some- 
what abstract  in  their  youthful  enthusiasm,  yet  of  a 
great  practical  value  because  of  their  sincerity  and 
purity  of  aim. 

The  University  of  Moscow  in  the  thirties  had  be- 
come the  centre  of  an  intense  intellectual  activity. 
Seldom  has  a  body  of  professors  and  students  exhib- 
ited such  a  simultaneous  outburst  of  scientific  inter- 
ests. German  philosophy  becomes  the  chief  object 
of  study  and  discussion.  Young  minds,  inflamed  by 
the    doctrines    of    Schelling,    were    carried    away    by 

the  lectures  of    Professors  Nadejdin,*  Pavlov,*  Shevy- 

1  The  chief  representatives  of  the  second  pleiads  of  our  lyrical  poels 
are:  Tutchev  (d.  1873),  Count  Alexis  Tolstoi  (d.  1875),  Fet  (d.  l89»)r 
and  the  yet  living  Count  Koutonsov. 

2  Professor  of  fine  arts  and  archaeology. 
»  Professor  of  physics  and  agriculture. 


228  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


rioff,^  and  Pogodin.^  Around  these  names  spring  up 
other  names,  of  those  who,  yet  students,  are  to  be- 
come in  the  next  decade  the  leaders  of  Russian 
thought;  those  who  shall  prepare  the  literary  soil 
from  which  the  great  writers  of  the  sixties  are  to 
rise,  and  who  constitute  the  moral  atmosphere  of 
the  society  which,  twenty  years  later,  will  respond  to 
the  sovereign  call  of  Emperor  Alexander  II  for  the 
emancipation  of  the  serfs.  Among  these  names  the 
most  important  are:  Granovsky,  the  future  professor 
of  history,  who  exercised  such  an  influence  on  his  own 
and  the  next  generation  that  his  name  became  synony- 
mous with  an  epoch.  Belinsky,  the  future  critic  whom 
we  have  so  ofteh  quoted,  especially  when  speaking 
of  Poushkin,  and  who,  it  has  been  said,  "constitutes 
the  chief  channel  of  our  literary  and  social  develop- 
ment in  the  forties."  ^  Solovieff,  since  1845  professor 
of  Russian  history  at  the  University  of  Moscow,  one 
of  the  greatest  of  historians.*    The  brothers  Aksakov, 

1  Professor  of  literature.  We  cited  him  when  speaking  of  the  "  Annals," 
and  of  the  "  Word  about  Igor's  Fights."  A  characteristic  remark  was 
suggested  to  Goethe  ("  Kunst  und  Altertum  ")  by  Shevyrioff 's  examination 
of  the  second  part  of  "  Faust " :  "  The  Scotchman  endeavours  to  penetrate 
into  a  work;  the  French,  to  understand  it;  the  Russian,  to  assimilate  it. 
Thus  Mr.  Carlyle,  Mr.  Ampere,  and  Mr.  Shevyrioff  have  undesignedly  pre- 
sented these  various  methods  of  dealing  with  a  work  of  art  or  nature." 
,-V.  Harsonkoff,  "  Life  and  Works  of  M.  P.  Pogodin."  3  vols.  St.  Peters- 
burg, 1889-1891  (Russian).  Compare,  Goethe  to  Carlyle,  Letter  XIV, 
15th  June,  1828.  ("Correspondence  between  Goethe  and  Carlyle,"  edited 
by  C.  E.  Norton,  London,  1887.) 

*  Professor  of  history. 

'  A.  N.  Pypin,  "  Characteristics  of  Literary  Opinions  firom  the  Twen- 
ties to  the  Forties."     St.  Petersburg,  1890  (Russian). 

*  His  "  History  of  Russia  from  the  Earliest  Times"  is  the  capital  work 
on  the  matter.  Volume  xxix  brings  it  as  far  as  the  reign  of  Catherine  the 
Great  (1780). 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  229 

the  future  leaders  of  the  Slavophiles,  sons  of  a  well- 
known  writer,  Serge  Aksakov.^  « 

All  these  young  people  lived  in  a  state  of  philosophi- 
cal intoxication.     After  the  last  years  of  the  thirties,  it 
was  no  longer  Schelling  but  Hegel  who  was  inflaming 
imaginations  and  unchaining  discussion.     "  In  the  three 
parts  of  his  '  Logic,'  "  says  a  contemporary,  "  in  the 
two  of  his  '  Esthetic,'  in  his  '  Cyclopaedia,'  there  was 
not  one  paragraph  which  had  not  been  conquered  at 
the  cost  of  desperate  discussion  of  many  a  night     Peo- 
ple who  were  friends  parted  for  weeks  because  they 
did  not  agree  upon  the  determination  of  the  '  absolute 
ego^  and   its  'existence   as  such.'     The   most  trifling 
pamphlets   published   in    Berlin,  or   in   any  centre  of 
German  philosophy  where  Hegel  was  spoken  of,  were 
read  till  they  were  soiled  and  worn  out."     Enthusiasm 
for  poetry  was  not  less.     "  To  know  Goethe  by  heart, 
especially  the  second  part  of  '  Faust,"  was  as  compul- 
sory  as  to  wear  clothes.     The   philosophy   of   music 
stood  on  the   first  plane."     Their   interest  in  abstrac- 
tions made  their  idealism  almost  ridiculous.     "A  man 
who  went  out  for  a  walk  in  the  park  was  going  out 
in  order  to  enjoy  the  pantheistic  feeling  of  unity  with 
the   cosmos;    if    he    met    a    soldier    or   a  loquacious 
woman  of  the  people,  the  philosopher  did  not  simply 
enter    into    conversation   with    them  — he   determined 
the  national  substance  in  its  immediate  or  accidental 

1  1791-1859.  His  "Famfly  Chronicle"  ("  Russische  Familien  Chro- 
nik."  2  B.  Leipzig,  1858)  is  the  prototype  of  the  Russian  famUy  novel, 
and  with  his  books  on  fishing  and  shooting,  he  gives  the  first  samples  of 
the  genuine  and  loving  contemplation  of  nature  which  afterwards  became 
the  characteristic  feature  of  Tourgenieflf;  but.  as  they  bear  an  autobio- 
graphical  character,  they  have  not  atUined  in  Ection  the  rank  they  might 
occupy  for  their  literary  merit 


/; 


230  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


appearance."  ^  All  this  was  childish  in  its  exaggeration, 
yet  sincere  and  unselfish.  With  age  came  steadiness 
and  practical  sense;  former  students  became  professors, 
enthusiastic  idealists,  zealous  workers  of  science  and 
enlightenment.^  Out  of  these  names  let  us  take  the 
one  which  has  been  designated  as  "  the  chief  channel 
of  our  literary  and  social  development  in  the  forties." 

From  the  numerous  quotations  I  have  given,  the 
figure  of  Belinsky  must  in  some  way  already  have  de- 
lineated itself  before  your  minds :  you  certainly  must 
have  appreciated  the  subtlety  of  his  artistic  perception, 
the  precision  of  his  analysis,  the  penetrating  power  of 
his  insight,  the  elevated  standard  of  his  aesthetic  judg- 
ment. His  influence  was  of  incalculable  importance; 
we  may  say  that  the  whole  subsequent  generation  of 
writers,  of  those  who  established  the  universal  signifi- 
cance of  Russian  literature,  gathered  their  aesthetic 
education  from  Belinsky's  works.  If  we  consider  the 
importance  of  those  writers  on  whom  he  exercised  his 
power,  —  Poushkin,  Lermontov,  Gogol,  —  and  if  we 
remember  that  he  was  their  contemporary,  and  conse- 
quently not  possessing  the  privilege  of  retrospective 
judgment,  his  insight  into  the  sense  of  literary  events 
and  their  relationship  to  life  appears  almost  wonder- 
ful. Never  did  a  theory  once  held  cloud  the  serenity 
of  his  appreciation.  "Only  he  who  does  not  care 
for  truth  has  never  changed  opinion,"  he  used  to  say. 

*  Quoted  by  A.  N.  Pypin,  op.  ciL 

2  One  of  the  first  who  gave  the  impulse  to  the  new  philosophical  move- 
ment, was  the  young  poet  Venevitinov  (1805-1827).  Extraordinarily 
gifted,  he  had  become  a  leader  in  spite  of  his  youth  (he  died  at  twenty- 
two).  "How  could  you  have  let  him  die?"  wrote  Poushkin  to  his 
friends. 


\f 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  231 

And  so  true  indeed  is  his  appreciation  of  life  and 
art  in  their  reciprocal  influence  that  it  really  becomes 
hard  to  decide  whether  it  is  advice  to  contemporary 
writers,  or  a  prophecy  on  the  future  Russian  literature, 
when  he  says :  "  The  politico-economist,  arming  him- 
self with  statistics,  impresses  the  minds  of  his  readers 
or  listeners  and  proves  that  the  conditions  of  a  social 
class  have  improved  or  declined  for  one  reason  or  an- 
other. The  poet  impresses  the  reader's  imagination 
with  his  brilliant  pictures  of  actuality,  and  shows  in  a 
true  reproduction  that  the  conditions  of  a  social  class 
have  improved  or  become  worse  for  one  reason  or 
another.  The  scientist  proves,  the  poet  shows,  and 
both  persuade;  the  one  by  way  of  logical  arguments, 
the  other  by  way  of  images.  Yet  the  former  is  heard 
and  understood  by  a  few,  the  latter  by  all." 

Belinsky's  activity  as  a  publicist  was  of  great  im- 
portance. "On  him,"  says  an  above-quoted  writer, 
"were  concentrated  the  warm  sympathy  of  the  new 
generations,  the  most  violent  hatred  of  the  old  literary 
parties,  and  the  antipathy  of  the  new  school  hostile  to 
the  'western'  tendency."  What  is  this  "new  school," 
and  what  this  "  western  tendency  "  ?  A  contemporary 
thus  characterizes  them  :  "In  these  days  the  Moscovite 
scientists  and  writers  were  divided  into  two  groups :  the 
so-called  'Westemists,'  and  the  so-called  Slavophiles. 
The  former,  the  more  numerous,  gathered  round  the 
young  professors  newly  returned  home  from  abroad, 
and  presented  a  reflection  of  moderate  Hegelianism. 
The  latter  were  elaborating  an  orthodox  Russian  sys- 
tem." 1      That    which    the    contemporary    calls   "two 

1  G.  Samarin  (d.  1876).  himself  a  Slavophile;  later,  a  member  ofthe 
commission  which  eUborated  the  plans  for  the  emancipaUon  of  the  lertt. 


1 


'II 


232  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

groups,"  soon  became  two  camps,  and  Belinsky,  when 
hostilities  grew  sharp,  became  the  most  zealous  cham- 
pion of  the  so-called  "  Westernism."  The  Westemists 
were  no  regular  party :  they  were,  however,  treated  as 
such  by  their  adversaries,  the.  Slavophiles,  from  whom 
they  also  received  their  appellation.  As  they  had  no 
characteristic  features  which  distinguished  them  from 
the  champions  of  culture  in  any  country,  we  will  give 
a  sketch  of  the  adverse  party,  and  thus  exhibit  the 
differences. 

We  mentioned  some  characteristic  points  of  the 
Slavophiles*  doctrine,  if  you  remember,  when  speaking 
of  the  different  judgments  of  Peter  the  Great.  You 
remember  that  the  reform  was  considered  by  this  party 
as  a  violent  interference  with  the  normal  development 
of  the  country,  as  a  deviation  leading  to  a  pernicious 
imitation  of  Western  Europe.  Such  a  view  of  one  of 
the  greatest  moments  of  Russian  history  was  the  natu- 
ral consequence  of  a  whole  doctrinal  system.  In  spite 
of  the  national  exclusiveness  to  which  it  leads,  in  spite 
of  the  artistic  intolerance  into  which  it  degenerated 
in  later  days,  in  spite  of  the  self-confident  "spread- 
eagle-ism  "  as  you  would  say,  which  is  its  frequent  com- 
panion, Slavophilism  rests  upon  a  profoundly  scientific 
basis;  the  founders  of  the  doctrine  were  enlightened 
men,  who  stood  on  a  high  level  of  European  culture.^ 
Strange  to  say,  those  champions  of  nationalism,  advo- 
cates of  the  superiority  of  the  Greco-Slavonian  world 
over  the  Latino-German,  grounded  their  theories  on 
the  acquisitions  of  that  very  western  culture  which  they 
contested.     After  all  it  was  an  intensified  form  of  the 

»  Sec  the  impression  produced  on  Mackenzie  Wallace  by  the  repre- 
sentabves  of  the  party  in  the  seventies.     ("  Russia."  vol.  ii,  chap,  xxvi.) 


f^ 


/ 

AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  233 

doctrine  of  the  historical  succession  of  nations  which 
had  lately  been  advanced  by  Schelling  and  turned  to 
the  benefit  of  the  Germans  by  Hegel.     Only  with  this 
difference,  that  what  in  the  Germans  was  condemned 
as  national  conceit,  because  it  stood  on  a  purely  ration- 
alistic basis  without  any  religious  element,  being  trans- 
planted to  Russian   ground,  was  set  up  as  a  mark  of 
Christian    humility.     True   it   was,   that,  according  to 
their  teaching,  providence  had  granted  especially  supe- 
rior gifts  to  the  Russian  people  above  other  nations, 
and  such  dogmatic  indisputability  did  this  theory  pos- 
sess in  their  eyes,  in  such  sincerity  of  faith  did  they 
profess   it,  that   there  actually  seems  to  be  as  much 
submission   and  humility  in  their  belief  as  conceit  or 
pride.i     We  will  not  linger  over  the  particulars  of  the 
Slavophile  doctrine,  — the  scorn  of  Europe,  the  antipa- 
thy   for    Peter   the    Great,  and   the  whole    Petersburg 
period   of    our  history,  the   hatred   of    Rome  and   the 
Latin  Catholicism  —  all   these  negative  elements  were 
ridiculous  and  sterile;   but  there  was  a  good  element, 
an  element  of  love  in  the  system,  and  this  was  fruitful 
and  valuable  in  its  results. 

The  lower  classes  of  the  people,  as  having  escaped 
the  "pernicious  influence  of  corrupting  civilization," 
appeared  to  them  still  to  exhibit  the  primitive  national 
purity.      It   was   an   exaggerated    idealization,   yet  its 

1  However  contradictory  it  may  sound,  they  assert  Russia's  gr^«*' 
but  they  assert  it  in  humility.  "  We  are  great,"  they  seem  to  say.  'because 
.  weare  humble."  «  Russian  humility  "  becomes  a  favounte  theme  C  AkM- 
kov.  Shevyrioff).  The  sin  of  conceit  in  them  is  immed.ately  ^o^o^^ 
the  merit  of  humility;  yet  the  consciousness  of  this  ment  doe,  but  agg«- 
vate  the  original  sin.  Thus  in  its  most  accentuated  form  (C-  Aksakov) 
Slavophilism  presents  a  vacillation  between  nat.on.1  pnde  and  Chnstun 
humility,  with  no  reconciliation  possible. 


K 


n    . 

834  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

practical  results  were  beneficent.  All  these  scientists 
and  writers  had  turned  their  intellectual  resources  to 
the  study  of  the  people,  each  one  in  his  own  field. 
Kireyevsky  studied  and  collected  specimens  of  Rus- 
sian folk-lore ;  the  poet  HomiakofT  studied  history  and 
ethnography  —  his  researches  on  the  conditions  of  the 
peasantry  helped  to  elucidate  the  great  question  of 
the  emancipation  of  the  serfs ;  Shevyrioff  ^  gave  a 
beautiful  examination  of  ancient  popular  poetry  and 
chronicles ;  Valouyev,  Pogodin,^  and  others  made  valu- 
able researches  in  national  history.  Their  conscien- 
tiousness and  devotion  to  science  assign  to  them  a 
noble  place  among  the  workers  of  the  country,  and 
whatever  posterity  may  think  of  their  opinions,  it  re- 
veres the  high  qualities  of  their  character  and  registers 
their  scientific  merits  with  gratitude.^ 

In  these  —  their  works  in  behalf  of  Russian  science 
—  the  Slavophiles  co-operated  with  their  adversaries, 
those  whom  they  had  surnamed  "  Westemists."  Both 
these  parties  preserved  amidst  divergency  of  opinions 
the  enthusiastic  love  for  science  which  had  animated 

1  Shevyrioff  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  employ  the  expression  "  rot- 
ten West."  By  a  strange  force  of  combination  this  did  not  cloud  the  clear- 
ness of  his  scientific  sight;  he  made  valuable  parallel  studies  of  Russian 
and  universal  literature,  and  he  could  not  help  appreciating  at  its  just 
value  the  remark  of  Goethe.     (See  foot-note,  p.  228.) 

2  Pogodin,  like  Shevyrioff,  did  not  call  himself  a  Slavophile,  yet  the 
tendency  of  his  paper,  the  Moscovian,  did  not  differ  much  from  the 
Slavophile  ideas.  He  belongs  to  a  group  which  later  received  the  appeUa- 
tion  of  "  soilers  "  (see  p.  262).  In  science,  Pogodin  is  known  for  having 
applied  to  Russian  history  what  he  called  the  "  mathematical  method." 

8  This  of  course  concerns  only  those  works  in  which  the  impartiality  of 
the  scientist  is  not  affected  by  the  predilections  of  the  Slavophile.  The 
Idealistic  picture  which  C.  Aksakov  gives  of  the  paganism  of  the  ancient 
Slavonians  has  no  place  in  science. 


AND   RUSSIAN  LITERATURE  235 


young  minds  in  their  student  days  when  opinions  had 
not  yet  differentiated.  An  outburst  of  scientific  activ- 
ity was  displayed  by  numbers  of  professors  and  writ- 
ers, who,  with  incredible  energy,  in  ten  or  fifteen  years 
raised  historiography  and  philology  in  Russia  to  the 
level  on  which  they  stood  in  Western  Europe.  Such 
names  as  Oustrialov,  Solovieff,  Kaveline,  Kostomarov, 
Bestoujev-Rumin,^  Bouslayev,^  Sreznevsky,'  are  re- 
vered for  services  rendered  to  science,  and  not  only  for 
having  worked  to  the  glory  of  science  in  Russia.*  It 
is  no  longer  the  personal  influence  of  one  or  another 
German  or  French  scientist,  it  is  the  contact  with  the 
whole  gigantic  bulk  of  universal  science  which  sets 
in  movement  the  intellectual  forces  of  the  country, 
a  movement  in  which  European  scientific  celebrities, 
such  as  Ranke,  Grimm,  Niebuhr,  Bopp,  have  not  so 
much  the  significance  of  special  teachers,  as  that  of 
standard-bearers  designating  tendencies  and   methods. 

'  Historians.  An  honourable  mention  b  due  to  their  predecessor, 
Kachenovsky  (1775-1842),  who  first  vindicated  the  right  of  existence  for 
"  historical  doubt."  He  was  severe  towards  his  predecessors.  Karamsin, 
with  his  patriotic  rhetoric,  was  harshly  criticised  by  him  for  having  pro- 
claimed in  the  introduction  to  his  "  History"  that  "knowledge  of  all  the 
laws  in  the  world — a  German  erudition,  a  wit  like  that  of  VolUire,  even  a 
profoundness  like  that  of  Machiavelli  —  will  not  help  a  historian  if  he  has 
not  the  talent  of  picturing  events."  (It  is  an  amusing  detail  that  in  the 
French  translation  the  words  "  vast  erudition  "  are  substituted  for  *'  Ger- 
man erudition.") 

-  Historical  studies  of  Slavonic  and  Russian  languages.  *  Slavist. 

*  We  speak  only  of  history  and  literature,  but  we  might  mention  many 
a  name  in  other  branches,  such  as :  Struve  in  astronomy,  Redkin  in  law, 
Pirogoff  in  medicine,  Mendeleyev  in  chemistry,  Ix)bachevsky  in  mathe- 
matics. (On  Lobachevsky,  see  the  "Address  by  Professor  Vassiliev," 
translated  by  Dr.  G.  B.  Halstedt,  Austin,  Texas,  1894;  see  also  his  "Geo- 
metrical  Researches  on  the  Theory  of  Parallels,"  translated  by  the  same 
(4th  edition). 


f 


236  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

Societies  like  the  Archaeographical  (1834),  Archaeologi- 
cal (1846),  Geographical  (1846),  Imperial  Historical 
(1867,  with  over  ninety  volumes  of  publications),  spring 
up  in  the  two  capitals;  similar  institutions  are  annexed 
to  universities  in  other  towns.^ 

True  to  the  precept  of  Belinsky,  literature  marches 
hand  in  hand  with  science.  Tourgenieff,  Dostoyevsky, 
Tolstoi,  GoncharofF,  and  others  of  the  young  natural- 
istic school  also  unveil  the  country  and  its  people. 
They  formulate  the  best  ideals  and  strivings  of  their 
contemporaries,  point  them  out,  and  impose  them  upon 
society.  National  self-consciousness  thus  attained  its 
final  crystallization.  The  Crimean  War,  in  185 3-1 856, 
gave  a  blow  to  national  conceit,  but  roused  all  hearts 
for  the  internal  struggles  of  social  and  economical 
improvement.  Nicholas  I  was  succeeded  by  the  Em- 
peror Alexander  II  in  1855,  and  with  him  dawned  the 
emancipation  of  the  serfs.  Hope  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  power  kept  the  minds  of  men  in  a  state  of 
enthusiastic  expectation.  A  breath  of  youthfulness 
breathes  in  the  air.  With  the  idealistic  responsiveness 
of  the  "forties"  in  their  hearts,  the  generation  was 
ready  to  answer  the  monarch's  call.  In  March,  1856, 
in  an  allocution  to  the  representatives  of  Moscow,  the 
Emperor's  voice  announced  the  abolition  of  servitude  in 
Russia.  On  the  19th  of  February,  1861,  the  emancipa- 
tion was  proclaimed. 

1  The  Imperial  Society  for  the  Study  of  Nature  in  Moscow.  The 
Moscow  Society  of  History  and  Antiquities.  The  Warsaw  Fine  Arts 
Society.  The  Historical  Nestor  Society.  The  Imperial  Society  of  History 
and  Antiquity  in  Odessa;  and  others. 


LECTURE    VIII 

(1861-1896) 

The  "  sixties."  Alexander  II  and  the  emancipation  of  the 
serfs.  Servitude  in  United  States  and  Russia.  Moral  signifi- 
cance of  the  reform.  The  role  of  literature.  The  three  chief 
representatives  of  the  naturalistic  school. 

Tourgenieff —  the  thinker  overweighed  by  the  artist.  Rus- 
sian critique  of  the  sixties.  TourgenieflF's  "  Fathers  and  Sons." 
Nihilism. 

Dostoyevsky  —  the  artist  overweighed  by  the  thinker. 
Dostoyevsky's  influence  on  his  generation.  Tourgenieff  and 
Dostoyevsky.  Dostoyevsky's  teachings  from  the  universal  and 
the  national  point  of  view. 

Leo  Tolstoi  —  the  artist  and  the  thinker  in  rivalry.  Artistic 
power.  Tolstoi's  teachings.  Spirit  of  dismemberment.  "  Tol- 
stoists."  Influence  of  his  teaching  —  its  negative  character. 
Societies  and  individuals. 


LECTURE   VIII 

(1861-1896) 

...  and  on  the  throne 
Do  not  forget  the  highest  title  — man. 

—  JouKOvsKY  (to  Alexander  II). 

Man  is  a  greater  name  than  President  or  King. 

—  Channing. 

THE  "sixties"  in  Russia,  like  the  "forties," 
is  a  date  which  marks  an  epoch.  Yet  so 
rapid  was  the  growth  of  the  country  in  those 
twenty  years,  that  the  uplifting  spirit  which  character- 
izes the  "forties"  appears  almost  child's  play  compared 
to  the  great  movement  which  carried  away  the  genera- 
tion of  the  "sixties."  The  "forties"  were  the  product 
of  a  few,  the  result  of  the  private  activity  of  a  group ; 
the  "sixties"  are  the  result  of  a  universal  activity,  the 
product  of  a  co-operation  of  the  government  and  soci- 
ety controlled  by  the  imperative  will  of  the  supreme 
power.  It  is  no  longer  a  few  individuals  now,  —  the 
whole  country  in  the  persons  of  its  most  enlightened 
representatives  determines  the  character  of  an  epoch 
which  is  marked  by  such  reforms  as  the  emancipation 
of  the  serfs,  the  institution  of  provincial  self-govern- 
ment, and  the  establishment  of  a  new  system  of  judi- 
cial  proceedings.^     The   enthusiastic  response  of  the 

*  "Code  d'organisation  judiciaire  de  I'Empire  de  Rassie  de  1864,"  tr»d. 
ct  annot£  par  le  0«  J.  Kapnist.     Paris,  1893. 
R  239 


24©  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

best  forces  of  the  country  to  the  call  of  the  sovereign 
makes  of  this  time  one  of  the  finest  pages  of  our 
history,  and  the  name  of  Alexander  II  will  always 
illuminate  it  with  the  radiant  splendour  of  his  noble 
character  and  the  converging  beams  of  his  nation's 
gratitude.^  We  will  endeavour  in  this  our  last  lecture 
to  picture  the  spirit  of  that  time. 

He  who  wants  to  study  the  present  state  of  Russia 
cannot  do  so  without  tracing  things  back  to  the  "six- 
ties," for  here  lies  not  only  the  origin,  but  the  direction 
of  the  subsequent  social  and  intellectual  development. 
The  forpis  into  which  the  present  society  has  settled, 
the  respective  situation  of  social  classes,  the  ways 
opened  for  individual  improvement,  Russian  science 
as  it  stands  in  our  days,  and  Russian  literature  as  it 
represents  contemporary  life,  —  are  all  the  result  of 
that  period  of  our  history. 

Opinions  do  not  agree  in  their  judgment  of  the 
period.  The  "si.xties"  were  and  are  still  much  criti- 
cised. The  liberal  tendencies  of  the  time,  it  is  said, 
had  unbridled  imaginations  and  called  into  activity  the 
worst  elements  of  the  country;  the  revolutionary  out- 
burst at  the  end  of  the  "seventies"  is  interpreted  as 
the  natural  evolution  of  the  same  spirit  which  brought 
forth  the  above-mentioned  reforms.  The  tragic  end  of 
Alexander  II  is  regarded  by  some  as  an  expiation.  It 
is  not  our  object  to  judge ;  besides,  events  are  too  near 
and  memories  too  fresh ;  it  will  require  time  before  peo- 
ple acquire  the  serenity  necessary  for  a  retrospective 
judgment.  Yet  one  thing  stands  indisputable:  the 
party  which,  professing  principles  of  brotherhood,  ter- 
rorized the  world  by  using  dynamite,  committed  the 
^  See  C  Cardonne,  "  L'Empereur  Alexandre  II."     Paris,  1883. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  241 


greatest  of  its  crimes  by  killing  him  who  had  used  his 
autocratic  power  for  restoring  the  rights  of  human 
dignity  to  twenty-two  millions  of  human  beings. 

However  great  the  act  of  Alexander  II  may  appear 
from  the  universal  point  of  view,  it  appears  still  greater 
if  we  consider  the  place  it  occupies  in  our  national  his- 
tory. "  Servitude  in  Russia,"  says  one  of  our  writers, 
"  had  a  universal  significance.  It  determined  all  con- 
ditions of  existence,  from  the  most  important  to  the 
most  insignificant.  It  was  a  drag  which  absolutely 
hindered  the  country's  development.  No  progress  of 
institutions,  no  accumulation  of  national  wealth,  no 
spreading  of  learning  in  the  masses,  no  improvement 
of  family  relations,  of  education,  customs,  notions,  in 
a  word,  no  improvement  of  any  kind  was  possible  so 
long  as  servitude  existed."  ^  You  may  see  from  this 
the  character  of  the  reform  and  its  importance ;  if  the 
disease  was  of  a  "universal  significance,"  its  removal 
must  have  had  the  same  significance,  and  must  have 
also  made  itself  felt,  in  "  all  conditions  of  life  from  the 
most  important  to  the  most  insignificant" 

The  emancipation  of  the  serfs  in  Russia  has  often 
been  compared  with  the  emancipation  of  the  negroes 
in  the  United  States;  the  two  acts  are  comparable 
indeed  from  the  humanitarian  point  of  view;  yet  if 
we  consider  the  local  conditions  and  the  national  sig- 
nificance of  the  two  emancipations  in  their  respective 
countries,  we  shall  see  that  they  essentially  differ.  In 
America  the  slave  was  imported  from  another  conti- 
nent, he  belonged  .to  another  race,  he  was  no  organic 
element  of  the  great  national  body,— and  slavery  in  the 

1  I.  IvanukoO;  "The  FaU  of  Servitude  in  Russia."  SL  Petenbnrg, 
1882  (Russian). 

K 


r 


242  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

United  States  had  an  imported  character ;  it  was  not  a 
disease,  it  was  an  excrescence ;  it  wanted  not  so  much 
healing  as  amputation  ;  political  life  might  have  gone  on 
even  with  slavery,  for  in  America  slavery  was  a  com- 
mercial institution  and  not  an  historical  result.  Not  so 
in  Russia.  Though  during  the  first  seven  hundred 
years  of  her  existence,  Russia  knew  no  servitude,  though 
the  first  official  act  binding  the  peasant  to  the  soil  dates 
from  1597,  yet  so  deeply  did  the  disease  penetrate  into 
the  people's  consciousness  that  three  hundred  years  later 
it  seemed  an  organic  part  of  the  nation's  body  almost 
impossible  to  be  removed  without  compromising  the 
political  existence  of  the  country.^ 

The  institution  of  servitude  in  Russia  had  been  an 
act  of  political  economy  resulting  from  military  needs. 
In  ancient  times  the  army  was  supplied  by  the  landed 
proprietors,  to  whom  land  was  given  by  the  grand 
dukes,  under  the  condition  that  at  the  first  call  they 
should  appear  equipped  for  war  at  the  head  of  a  detach- 
ment recruited  among  the  peasants  cultivating  their 
estates;  but  as  the  peasants,  being  free  to  pass  from 
one  proprietor  to  another,  deserted  to  those  who  paid 
the  most,  the  poorer  landowners  were  soon  unable  to 
keep  their  engagements  towards  the  government  As  a 
consequence,  in  1 597,  a  decree  was  issued  by  Boris  Go- 
dounoff  binding  the  peasant  to  the  soil  which  he  culti- 
vated.   "  The  bondage  of  the  peasants,"  says  SolovioflF, 

^  The  appearance  of  servitude  at  a  comparatively  late  period  of  Russian 
history  has  often  been  regarded  as  proving  that  servitude  was  not  inherent 
to  the  national  constitution.  Some  historians  even  put  it  in  connection  with 
the  beginning  of  foreign  influence,  and  this  is  one  of  the  chief  vgnments 
of  the  national  party  against  Peter's  reform  and  the  "  western  tendencies." 
(For  instance :  Kayalovich,  "  HUtory  of  Russian  Sclf-consdonsness."  St 
Petersburg,  1884.) 


AND  RUSSIAN  LITERATURE  245 

"  is  a  desperate  resort  of  a  country  which  feels  itself  to  be 
in  a  state  of  helpless  economical  distress."  ^     From  the 
bondage  of  the  worker  to  the  land  there  was  but  a  step 
to  his  becoming  a  bondman  to  the  landowner ;  such  he 
became  and  such  he  remained  throughout  the  seven- 
teenth and  the  eighteenth  centuries.     The  military  sys- 
tem by  degrees  became  modified,  a  regular  conscription 
was  introduced  by  Peter  the  Great,  but  the  situation  of 
the  peasant  remained  unaltered.     Legislation  made  sev- 
eral attempts  at  improving  his  condition,  —  they  were 
paralyzed  by  customs  and  opinions  according  to  which 
the   peasant  was  regarded  as  movable  property.     No 
measures  for  improvement  could  be  taken, — the  prin- 
ciple   had   to   be   rooted  out.      During  three  hundred 
years  society  suffered  from  this  condition  as  from  a 
disease,  and,  except  for  a  few  individual  protests,'  peo- 
ple seemed  scarcely  conscious  of  the  moral  anomaly  in 
which  they  lived.     The  moment  to  put  an  end  to  it 

came  at  last. 

When  the  Emperor's  voice  proclaimed  the  abolition 
of  servitude,  all  that  was  noble  and  vigorous  in  the 
nation  rose  like  one  man,  and  proved  that  it  was  ready 
to  assume  the  responsibility  of  one  of  the  greatest  acts 
in  human  history.  For  four  years  did  the  prepara- 
tory commissions  work  at  the  elaboration  of  the  plan. 
During  these  four  years  twenty-two  millions  of  human 

1"  Public  Lectures  on  Peter  the  Great  "(Russian).  „        ^        ^ 

2  Among  these,  Radischev.  who  in  his  "Journey  from  Pjt«^»b"g^ 

Moscow"  (.790).  gives  pictures  of  contemporary  peasant  hfe  of  a  most 

^k  ng  realisT;   th^n.  the  «  DecembrisU  " ;  Poushkin  in  one  of  h«  poems 

e^rlsses  the  .:ish  to  see  "the  chains  of  slavery  fall  at  the  .,gn  of  the 

"T^rI'::t;Beaulieu,   "Un  homme  d'.tat  russe"  in  -Revue  dc. 
Deux  Mondes,"  October,  i88a 


} 


244  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


beings  were  expecting  the  decision  of  their  fate.^  "  I 
cannot  admire  and  rejoice  enough,"  said  the  Emperor, 
on  the  28th  of  January,  1861,  when  handing  over  to 
the  Imperial  Council  the  project  elaborated  by  the 
commission,^  "  I  cannot  rejoice  enough,  and  I  am  sure 
you  all  rejoice  at  the  confidence  and  patience  shown 
by  our  dear  people  on  this  occasion."  They  had  not 
to  wait  long.  According  to  the  Emperor's  special  de- 
sire, the  proceedings  had  to  be  accomplished  in  the 
first  part  of  February  so  that  the  law  should  be  put 
into  effect  before  the  beginning  of  the  summer  labours. 
On  the  19th  of  February  the  manifesto  proclaiming 
the  emancipation  of  the  serfs  was  signed  by  Alexander 
II ;  on  the  5th  of  March  it  was  read  in  the  churches  of 
both  capitals ;  ^  in  the  first  days  of  April  it  was  already 
known  in  all  the  corners  of  the  Empire.  That  the 
peasants  were  not  only  emancipated  but  endowed  with 
land,  and  that  the  reform  did  not  cost  the  country  a 
drop  of  blood,  are  two  important  points  by  which  the 
abolition  of  servitude  in  Russia  differs  from  the  same 
act  in  other  countries.  The  emancipation  in  Russia 
was  an  act  of  practical  life,  not  only  of  theoretical 
satisfaction,  for  the  emancipated  peasant  not  only  re- 
ceived the  right  of  liberty,  but  the  faculty  of  being 
free,  freedom  being  but  an  empty  sound  if  not  war- 

*  The  total  number  of  the  peasants  at  the  moment  of  emancipation  was 
21,625,609. 

2  The  so-called  "  Committee  of  Redaction,"  who  were  entrusted  ^vith 
the  final  wording  of  the  plan,  worked  during  nineteen  months,  in  which 
time  they  had  altogether  409  sittings. 

'  The  spirit  in  which  the  people  accepted  the  reform  appears  from  the 
fact  that  on  this  day  the  bars  and  saloons  were  almost  empty.  The  same 
condition  of  things  was  noted  in  all  poinU  of  the  Empire  on  the  days  when 
the  decree  of  emancipation  was  read. 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  245 


ranted  by  property.  This  is  why  the  labour  question, 
which  m  our  end  of  the  century  seems  to  have  attained 
its  most  violent  phase  in  the  states  of  Western  Europe, 
where  millions  of  human  beings  cannot  exist  unless 
they  renounce  their  freedom,  will  not  arise  in  Russia 
for  centuries  to  come.  And  Russisi  will  not  regret 
standing  behind  the  rest  of  Europe  in  this  case;  she 
simply  expects  that  when  the  hour  of  her  labour  crisis 
comes,  the  advanced  countries  of  the  world  will  already 
have  shown  her  the  way  of  solving  the  problem. 

No  words  can  give  an  idea  of  the  enthusiasm  which 
inflamed  the  minds  of  men  in  these  years.  "There  are 
epochs,"  says  a  contemporary,  "  when  every  man  feels 
the  presence  of  Providence  in  life,  when  in  the  depth 
of  his  soul  he  distinctly  hears  the  present  time  answer- 
ing the  demands  of  the  past,  and  these  answers  bring 
peace  and  good-will  to  human  hearts  ;  they  reconstitute 
the  sense,  the  truth,  and  the  equilibrium  of  life, — 
epochs  when  forces  suddenly  revive  and  mature,  when 
people  with  an  intensified  pulsation  of  the  heart  join 
in  common  work  and  common  feeling.  Blessed  the 
generations  which  are  destined  to  live  in  such  times! 
Thank  God  we  are  permitted  to  live  in  such  a  time !  "  ^ 
This  feeling  of  community  was  the  great  force  which 
helped  the  workers  of  this  time  to  triumph  over  the 
incertitudes  of  those  who  were  afraid  of  the  economi- 
cal and  political  difficulties  presented  by  the  reform; 
the  conservative  element  was  strong,  but  its  resistance 
was  overcome  by  the  unanimous  outburst  of  the  best 
forces  of  the  country.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  well 
worthy  of  notice,  that  during  all  these  years  when  di- 

1  M.  Katkoff.  Speech  pronounced  at  the  banquet  given  in  Moscow  on 
the  28th  of  December,  1857. 


\ 


246  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


vergency  of  opinions  in  society  and  official  circles  filled 
the  air  with  stormy  discussions,  the  whole  press  pre- 
sented a  concordance  of  opinion  which  has  never  since 
been  displayed  in  regard  to  any  political  or  economi- 
cal question ;  only  one  periodical  pronounced  itself  not 
in  favour  of  the  emancipation,  but  of  a  "gradual  im- 
provement of  the  peasants'  conditions"  ;i  all  the  other 
organs  of  the  press  expressed  liberal  tendencies,  and 
with  their  commentaries  helped  public  opinion  to  accept 
the  reform,  and  to  appreciate  its  significance. 

We  can  hardly,  in  our  day,  form  an  idea  of  the 
change  the  emancipation  wrought  in  the  social  aspect 
of  the  country.  Seldom  has  a"  reform  exercised  such 
a  destructive,  annihilating  action  on  that  which  it  con- 
demned. When  we  now  see  the  peasant  taking  part 
in  the  assembly  of  the  provincial  self-government  with 
the  same  rights  of  vote  and  election  as  his  former  pro- 
prietor, who  sits  next  to  him  without  a  vestige  of  antag- 
onism, how  can  we  reconstitute  in  our  mind  those  times 
when  he  was  regarded  as  a  thing  to  be  bought  or  sold  ? 
Thirty-five  years  have  passed,  and  servitude  seems  al- 
most relegated  into  legendary  times ;  those  who  saw  it 
remember;  the  second  generation  scarcely  understands; 
the  third  will  not  even  be  able  to  imagine.  No  educa- 
tional efforts  of  any  school,  of  any  preacher,  of  any 
propaganda,  could  have  ever  obtained  so  radical  a  regen- 
eration of  the  nation's  soul,  as  the  penstroke  by  which 
Alexander  II  signed  the  memorable  act  of  the  19th  of 
February.2  This  is  what  the  monarch  meant,  when  in 
the  above-mentioned  allocution  to  the  Imperial  CouncU, 
he  said:  "Servitude  in  Russia  was  established  by  the 

'  Z?*  "  ^*™"'s  Magazine."  the  first  number.     Moscow.  April,  1858. 
IHe  pen  u  preserved  in  the  Historical  Museum  in  Moscow. 


^ 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  247 

autocratical  power,  and  the  autocratical  power  only  can 
suppress  it."  The  Emperor,  in  these  words,  did  not 
doubt  his  country,  the  best  portion  of  which  showed 
itself  to  be  ready  for  the  acceptance  of  the  reform ;  but 
he  felt  that  years  would  be  needed  to  bring  the  great 
masses  to  the  same  point  by  way  of  education.  As  it 
was  carried  out,  the  reform  was  imposed  on  the  masses, 
and  one  generation  sufficed  to  lift  them  up  to  the  level 
of  its  conscious  acceptance ;  the  reform  was  by  itself 
the  means  of  education. 

It  is  not  our  object  to  consider  the  economical  and 
agrarian  conditions  which  resulted  from  the  emancipa- 
tion ;  we  will  endeavour  to  follow  up  its  influence  on 
the  tendencies  of  Russian  thought  so  far  as  they  ex- 
pressed themselves  in  literature. 

We   have   seen  that  long  before  the  emancipation. 
scientific  interest  in  national  questions  had  been  stirred 
up      Literature  moved  in  the  same  direction ;  as  early 
as  the  forties,  its  best  representatives  introduced  the 
peasant  into  fiction,  and  thus  worked  at  the  levelling  o 
the  social  barriers  which  prevent  the  free  contact  of 
human    souls.^      Lack    of   time  will   prevent  us   from 
embracing  the  whole  bulk  of  Russian  c«"temp°j^7  J;^" 
erature,  but  we  will  examine  by  what  means  the  three 
great  representatives  of   the  naturalistic  foolJ.^J 
fought  to  accomplish  the  task.     Tourgenieff,  Do  t^^^^^^^ 
sky  and  Count  Tolstoi,  all  three,  pursue  the  unveihng  of 
the'  human  soul,  though  each  by  a  d'^--^^^;;'/, 
two  latter  differ  from  each  other  so  much  the  more 

-  -  „   ;»  Knot  Tourgenieff  but  Grigoro- 

1  Contrary  to  the  prevaning  °P'"°"'.  "^^^^^^.i  ^ Anton  the  Miser.- 

vich  who  first  introduced  the  peasant  m  ,.     ^.^^t,"  says  a  critic- 

b,e,"  ,846).     "  H.  wa,  .h.  ^'"^^^.°'^:^,.r 
"Touigenieft  became  his  AmencoVespocci.      I 


\ 


248  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


both  have  carried  their  opinions  to  the  last  limits  of 
exaggeration. 

Tourgenieff,  the  refined  "Westemist,"  arms  himself 
with  all  the  resources  of  an  aristocratic  education,  and 
lighting  his  way  with  the  lamp  of  European  culture, 
plunges  into  the  unexplored  depths  of  the  peasant  life. 
He  uncovers  the  beauties  of  the  human  soul  under  the 
picturesque  roughness  of  its  surroundings,  and  the 
identity  of  feeling  in  his  and  the  peasant's  heart,  with 
the  power  of  responsiveness  and  sympathy  in  both, 
appear  like  a  warrant  of  a  distant  yet  inevitable  fusion 
of  all  elements  of  human  life  from  the  heights  of  civili- 
zation down  to  the  depths  of  the  popular  soul. 

Dostoyevsky,  the  sombre  epileptic,  disenchanted  with 
"civilization,"  disgusted  with  the  upper  classes  and  all 
that  comes  from  Europe,  preaches  individual  self-obliv- 
ion ;  he  goes  to  the  outcasts  of  society  ;  among  murderers, 
convicts,  and  disreputable  women,  he  discovers  jewels 
of  moral  beauty,  and,  in  an  act  of  mystic  veneration,  he 
kneels  down  before  the  collective  soul  of  the  Russian 
lower  people,  as  the  only  true  remnant  of  Christian 
humility,  predestined  by  Providence  to  regenerate  the 
world. 

Just  the  contrary,  Leo  Tolstoi,  reviling  all  civiliza- 
tion, undermining  all  authority,  the  self-made  philoso- 
pher, shakes  off  all  historical  inheritance,  every  principle 
of  collectivity  in  human  life;  throwing  down  national, 
political,  and  social  barriers,  he  abandons  man  to  his 
individual  self-improvement;  knowing  no  limits  in  his 
work  of  emancipation,  he  finally  breaks  family  ties  till 
emancipated  mankind  is  left  the  privilege  of  extinction 
through  compulsory  abstinence  or  voluntary  sterility. 

Such  appear  the  final  points  to  which  Russian  thought 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  249 

is  led  through  the  works  of  the  three  great  novelists. 
Their  starting-point  was  one;  all  three  aimed  at  un- 
veiling the  reality  of  life.  Tourgenieff  and  Dostoyev- 
sky  might  each  have  uttered  these  words  of  Tolstoi: 
"  The  hero  of  my  novel,  the  one  whom  I  love  with  all 
the  force  of  my  soul,  whom  I  endeavour  to  reproduce 
in  all  his  beauty,  and  who  always  was,  and  is,  and  will 
be  beautiful  —  is  Truth."  ^  Yet  truth,  though  single  as 
an  object  of  reproduction,  becomes  multiple  when  re- 
fracted by  talents  of  different  character.  If  the  three 
writers  are  different  as  novelists,  they  are  still  more 
different  as  thinkers. 

Tourgenieff,  less  than  the  other  two,  is  to  be  measured 
by  the  standard  of  thought.     He  is,  if  not  exclusively, 
at  any  rate  first  of  all  an  artist ;  the  thinker  in  him  is 
an  annex  to  the  painter,  and  generally  the  former  does 
not  entirely  reveal  himself ;  he  expects  to  be  found  out, 
commented    upon,  and   brought   into   light  by  others. 
The  whole  of  Russian  critical  literature  in  regard  to 
Tourgenieff  is  nothing   but  an   effort  to*  discover  the 
thinker  under  the  enchanting  vestments  of  the  artist 
The  place  given  to  his  works  from  a  social  and  political 
point  of  view  is  not  so  much  due  to  the  theories  they 
set  forth  as  to  the  intellectual  activity  they  stu-red  up; 
taken  as  an  index  of  contemporary  thought,  they  are 
less  important  by  what  they  express  than  by  what  they 
called  forth.     Tourgenieff  s  first  appearance  m  pnnt  was 
greeted  as  an  event  of  greater  than  a  purely  literary 
fmportance.      The  "Sketches  of  a  Hunter      appeared 
in   1847.     These  charming  stories  had  an  idyllic  back- 
ground of  rural  scenery,  and  the  portraits  of  peasants 

I  ••  Sebastopol  in  December,  1853." 


2SO  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

and  masters,  which  they  present,  framed  in  episodes  of 
country  life,  are  still  regarded  by  some  critics  as  a  "  po- 
etical protest"  against  servitude.^  A  writer  compares 
them  in  this  sense  to  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." ^  Those 
who  know  both  books  will  easily  see  the  difference. 
There  is  no  premeditated  didacticism  in  Tourgenieff's 
stories ;  the  mere  choice  of  his  characters  proves  it ; 
he  pictures  good  and  evil  wherever  he  sees  it,  whether 
among  peasants  or  among  landowners.  A  book  meant 
to  be  a  social  or  political  sermon  is  apt  to  be  one-sided. 
Tourgenieff,  in  his  stories,  is  eclectic  and  unbiassed ;  in 
his  portrayal  of  people  and  customs  he  is  as  impartial 
a  painter  as  in  his  pictures  of  nature.  He  loves  nature 
in  all  its  aspects;  pretty  or  ugly  scenery  equally  fur- 
nishes  him  with  material  for  a  beautiful  landscape ;  just 
so  human  nature  and  social  life.  He  merely  unveils 
humanity;  by  putting  the  two  social  classes  side  by 
side  on  the  common  ground  of  rural  life  in  proximity  to 
nature,  he  shows  equally  good  and  evil  on  both  sides ; 
and  the  fact  that  the  good  elements  in  the  peasant's 
soul  overweigh  all  other  elements  in  the  impression 
produced  by  the  book  does  not  make  a  protest  or  a 
satire  of  that  which  is  simply  a  picture  full  of  truth 
and  sincerity. 

Tourgenieff's  method  is  one  of  the  most  striking  ex- 
amples of  the  power  of  art  as  such.  He  penetrates 
into  the  reader's  soul  exclusively  by  the  channel  of 
beauty,  yet  so  pregnant  of  real  life  is  this  beauty, 
that  once  reaching  our  consciousness  it  becomes  a  fer- 

'  A.  Nezelionov,  "Tourgenieff  in  his  Works."  St.  Petersbure.  i88<: 
(Russian).  ^  ^ 

2Gr.  Djanshiev,  "An  Epoch  of  Great  Reforms."  Moscow,  1894 
(Russian) . 


t? 


AND  RUSSIAN  LITERATURE  251 

ment  of  feeling  and  thought.^  All  his  life  the  public 
sought  to  make  the  novelist  responsible  for  theories, 
tendencies,  opinions ;  and  the  voluntaiy  emigrant,  who 
spent  his  days  in  Paris,  and  only  now  and  then  passed 
a  summer  in  his  Russian  country  place,  watched  with 
a  certain  pleasure  the  critical  bustle  which  his  writings 
had  stirred  up  in  his  distant  fatherland.  Like  those 
weak  characters  who  do  not  dislike  being  reproached 
for  views  they  do  not  possess,  or  who  like  to  be  praised 
for  virtues  they  wish  they  had,  so  our  novelist  did  not 
protest,  and  willingly  accepted  the  role  he  was  invested 
with  by  the  critics. 

The  Russian  critical  literature  of  the  sixties  had  an 
important  part  in  the  intellectual  development  of  the 
younger  generation,  and  presents  an  interesting  evolu- 
tion of  itself.  Belinsky's  demand  that  art  should  explain 
real  life  became  the  starting-point  of  the  subsequent 
critics.  On  this  basis  a  whole  school  of  writers,  for- 
getting that  the  master  had  put  art  and  science  side  by 
side,  and  even  ascribed  to  art  the  greater  importance  on 
account  of  the  popularity  of  its  means,  by  and  by  assigned 
to  art  a  secondary,  auxiliary  part  which  finally  deprived 
it  of  all  significance  except  as  a  popularizer  of  useful 
knowledge.  In  the  works  of  its  chief  representatives, 
Chernyshevsky,2  Dobrolubov,  and  Pissarev,  the  Russian 

1  This  is  undoubtedly  the  real  reason  of  his  universal  success.  This  is 
why,  at  a  time  of  strongly  diN-ided  opinions,  he  has  been  equally  celebrated 
both  by  the  liberal  and  by  the  conservative  party.  This  is  why,  in  spite  of 
the  historical  actuality  of  his  novels,  they  do  not  lose  their  freshness  as 
tirne  goes  on.  This  is  why  his  stories,  though  essentially  Russian  in  their 
subjects,  exercise  such  a  fascinating  charm  on  the  foreign  reader. 

2  His  essay,  "  On  ^Esthetical  Relation  of  Art  to  Reality,"  was  the  start- 
ing-point of  the  new  tendency.  He  is  chiefly  known  as  the  author  of  the 
novel,  "What  is  to  be  Done?"  which  caUcd  forth  such  a  fcrmcnUtion 


\ 


252  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

criticism  of  this  time  presents  a  gradual  lowering  of  the 
aesthetical  standard  to  the  advantage  of  the  standard  of 
practical  usefulness.      A  work  of  art  was  considered 
only  in  so  far  as  it  was  an  illustration  of  life ;  no  intrinsic 
artistic  qualities  were  required,  and  no  attention  was 
paid  to  them ;  instead  of  being  an  analysis  of  the  work 
of  art,  the  critique  became  a  study  of  the  social  condi- 
tions or  scientific  theories  exposed  in  the  work  of  art 
Literature,  as  such,  was  declared  almost  worthless  if  it 
did  not  aim  at  some  result  of  immediate  usefulness. 
Pissarev  rejoices  at  the  idea  that  after  Gogql,  the  writ- 
ers of  prose  obtain  preponderance  over  poets,  and  takes 
it  as  a  happy  omen  that  in  their  turn  prosaists  will  have 
to  cede  their  place  to  a  more  useful  kind  of  literature 
than  novels.^ 

This  tendency  could  not  but  lead  to  a  final  rejection 
of  all  art ;  it  is  evident  that  not  only  many  forms  of  lit- 
erature could  find  no  mercy  before  such  exigencies,  but 
whole  worlds  of  man's  creation  had  to  be  put  outside  of 
the  pale,  —  as,  for  instance,  architecture  and  music  which 
could  not  answer  the  standard  of  immediate  usefulness. 
The  younger  generation  grasped  with  enthusiasm  at 
these  theories  :  they  were  encouraging,  they  were  easy ; 
they  saved  the  humiliation  of  bending  to  authorities ; 
they  dispensed  with  reverence  for  that  which  others  ad- 

among  the  yonnger  generation.  (Translated  from  the  Russian  into  Eng- 
lish by  Nathan  Haskell  Dole  and  S.  S.  Skidelsky  [under  the  title  "A 
Vital  Question"],  Boston;  from  the  French  by  Benjamin  Tucker.)  The 
above-mentioned  critics  are  often  regarded  as  the  promoters  and  founders 
of  the  revolutionary  nihilism  of  later  days.  Yet  this  conception  is  some- 
what superficial.  In  their  realism  they  are  idealistic  enthusiasts,  but  for 
being  characteristic  representatives  of  their  epoch  they  cannot  be  made 
responsible  for  the  anarchical  aberrations  of  later  yemis. 
*  "  Flowers  of  Innocent  Humoor." 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  253 

mired.  By  and  by  criticism  degenerated  into  simple  ne- 
gation. Instead  of  going  through  the  laborious  process 
of  artistic  education  which  lifts  us  up  to  the  understand- 
ing of  a  great  artist's  work,  it  was  easier  to  declare  that 
the  fame  of  great  artists  was  the  product  of  preposses- 
sion, that  there  were  no  great  artists,  and  that  above 
all,  art  in  itself  was  not  worth  regard.  Reality  pre- 
sented too  hard  problems  for  time  to  be  wasted  in  futili- 
ties ;  the  practical  exigencies  of  life  were  more  important 
than  any  art,  and  after  all,  as  a  proverbial  sentence 
of  the  time  declared,  "  A  pair  of  boots  is  superior  to 
Shakespeare."  To  such  absurd  exaggerations  did  young 
turbulent  minds  carry  the  theories  of  their  teachers. 
The  levelling,  democratizing  influence  of  these  ideas 
which  had  arisen  on  a  ground  of  purely  artistic  criti- 
cism by  and  by  took  a  wider  extension  and  gradually 
swept  away  all  acknowledgment  of  any  authority. 

In  a  more  or  less  exaggerated  degree,  with  more  or 
less  alloy  of  political  protest  and  religious  scepticism, 
these  theories  were  professed  by  a  great  portion  of  the 
young  generation.  For  the  first  time  they  were  de- 
picted in  literature  by  Tourgenieff,  who,  in  his  novel, 
"Fathers  and  Sons,"  gave  them  the  appellation  of 
"  nihilism."  *  Young  Bazarov  is  the  first  type  of  the 
kind  in  fiction ;  he  has  been  repeated  by  others.  Gon- 
charoff  in  his  "  Precipice  "  gave  a  portrait  of  a  nihilist 
with  striking  features  of  roughness  and  brutality.  Dos- 
toyevsky  in  his  "  Devils "  pictured  a  whole  society  of 
political  conspirators.     Yet   TourgeniefF's   hero  is  the 

1  In  those  days  the  word  did  not  possess  the  terroristic  colouring  it 
received  later  from  Western  Europe,  which  made  it  synonymous  with 
"  anarchist."  If  we  do  not  err,  it  is  St.  Augustine  ("  City  of  God  ")  who 
first  used  the  word  "  nihilist "  to  designate  people  "  who  believe  nothing." 


254 


PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


only  lifelike  reproduction ;  Goncharoff's  and  Dostoyev- 
sky's  types  are  not  free  of  didacticism,  whereas  Tour- 
genieff  depicts  his  hero  with  such  Olympic  impartiality, 
that  even  to-day  the  critics  are  not  agreed  as  to  whether 
the  author  approves  or  condemns  him.     A  controversy 
was   stirred   up   by  the   appearance  of  "Fathers  and 
Sons";  opinions  were  divided   among  people  belong- 
ing to  the  same  parties ;  some  liberals  praised  the  au- 
thor  for  being   on   the   side   of    the  "sons";    others 
blamed  him  for   sympathizing  with  the  "  fathers " ;  it 
was  the  same  in  the  conservative  camp :  some  greeted 
him  as  a  violent    reprover  of    the   young  tendencies, 
others  reviled  him  for  having  ridiculed  the  elder  genera- 
tion. 

The  author  himself,  in  his  letters,  with  no  great  dis- 
crimination, simply  kept  up  the  flame  of   those  who 
praised  him.     The  fact  is,  that  Tourgenieff  had  watched 
the  type  in  its  very  first  delineations,  when  it  had  not  yet 
accentuated  itself  in  those  extreme  forms  which  it  as- 
sumed later ;  he  had  watched  it  in  the  moment  of  its 
formation,  when,  full  of  energy  and  noble  desire  of  useful 
activity,  it  only  detached  itself  from  the  great  mass  of 
the  older  generation ;  the  protest  at  that  moment  was 
pregnant  with  promises  which  could  not  but  excite  sym- 
pathy, in  spite  of  a  certain  arrogance  and  cynical  in- 
difference to  the  old  forms.     No  one  could  have  guessed 
at  that  moment  to  what  abnormalities  the  type  would 
be  led  throughout  its  subsequent  evolution.     Pissarev, 
in  his  critique  of  "  Fathers  and  Sons,"  says  :  "The  sense 
of  the  novel  is  as  follows :  contemporary  youths  commit 
errors  and  fall  into  extremes,  but  in  their  enthusiasm 
they  reveal  fresh  forces  and  honest  minds  .  .  .  these 
forces  and  these  minds,  without  any  outside  help,  will 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  255 

lead  them  out  on  the  right  way  and  will  support  them 
in  life."  Alas!  they  did  not  support,  at  least,  not 
all  of  them;  they  led  them  out,  but  not  the  "right 
way,"  so  long  as  it  leads  to  destruction.  Fresh  forces 
and  honest  minds  will  have  still  to  look  for  that  right 
way. 

These  are  the  chief  ideas  brought  to  mind  by  Tour- 
genie  ff's  work  as  a  whole.  We  must  mention  still 
another  literary  peculiarity  of  his  which  is  a  symptom 
of  the  time,  and  stands  in  connection  with  a  movement 
which  also  has  proceeded  to  great  exaggeration.  In 
his  novel,  "  On  the  Eve,"  Tourgenieff  gave  the  first 
portrait  of  a  woman  whose  interests  extend  beyond 
the  exclusive  circle  of  her  home  life.  Helen  is  the 
first  woman  in  our  literature  who  in  her  love  for  her 
husband  finds  force  enough  to  become  his  intellectual 
companion,  not  only  in  his  family  life,  but  in  his  work 
outside  the  family.  She  is  a  representative  of  those 
noble  specimens  of  Russian  female  character  who,  with- 
out abdicating  home,  transfuse  their  love  into  their  hus- 
band's whole  existence ;  who,  without  ceasing  to  be  wife 
and  mother,  with  equal  intrepidity  follow  the  masters 
of  their  heart  into  the  abstract  regions  of  science,  into 
the  struggles  of  practical  life,  into  the  gloom  of  Sibe- 
rian exile.  Later  this  was  exaggerated ;  scientific  inter- 
ests became  a  sort  of  protest  against  family  life  and 
brought  forth  specimens  of  girls  who  made  it  a  point 
of  honour  to  be  anything  except  wives  or  mothers.^  It 
is  perhaps  the  consequence  of  the  richness  of  the  Rus- 
sian virgin  soil,  which  slumbered  during  so  many  cen- 

*  In  regard  to  this  movement,  see  a  few  remarks  in  "  Higher  E^iucation 
of  Women  in  Russia,"  by  Pr.  S.  Wolkonsky.  ("  Addresses."  Winship  & 
Co.,  Chicago.     Unity  Publishing  Co.,  1893.) 


256  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


turies,  that  no  seed  can  germinate  in  it  without  growing 
up  to  its  extreme  height^ 

We  now  pass  on  to  Dostoyevsky.  If,  with  Tourge- 
nieff,  the  thinker  disappeared  under  the  artist,  with 
Dostoyevsky  the  artist  is  almost  screened  by  the  thinker 
and  the  moralist.  We  will  not  penetrate  into  the  pain- 
ful world  of  his  creations.  Those  who  have  read  the 
"  Letters  from  the  Dead  House,"  or  "  Crime  and  Pun- 
ishment," have  experienced  and  paid  with  the  torment 
of  their  own  soul,  the  terrifying  fascination  exercised 
by  that  crowd  of  lunatics,  criminals,  epileptics,  suicides, 
and  all  the  "Humiliated  and  Offended  "^  outcasts  of 
society,  who  throughout  their  doleful  earthly  agony 
proclaim  the  eternal  beauty  of  the  human  soul.  In 
spite  of  an  awkward  disproportion  in  the  architectural 
structure  of  nearly  all  his  works,  in  spite  of  the  some- 
what clumsy  shape  of  his  overcrowded  novels,  the  power 
and  the  direction  of  his  talent  make  him  a  unique  figure 
in  universal  literature.  All  the  tendencies  of  his  work 
converge  to  one  point  —  to  deliver  the  human  soul  from 
the  oblivion  to  which  it  has  been  relegated  by  self- 
ishness, prejudice,  and  indifference  of  men.  His  whole 
work  seems  an  effort  to  discover  the  primitive  purity 
of  the  human  soul  under  the  worst  aspects  of  misery. 
Nothing  frightens  him ;  he  himself  augments  the  diffi- 
culties of  his  task ;  he  piles  together  details  of  social, 
physical,  or  moral  degradation  in  most  repulsive  combi- 
nations,^  and  yet  a  drop  of  pure  crystal  always  emerges 

i  On  Tourgenieff,  see  Zabel,  «  Iw.  Turgenief."     Leipzig,  1884. 

2  The  title  of  one  of  Dostoyevsky's  novels. 

»  Only  one  work  within  our  knowledge  in  the  whole  field  of  foreign 
literature  can  be  compared  to  this  side  of  Dostoyevsky's  talent :  this  is, 
"Giovanni  Episcopo,"  by  Gabriele  d'Annunzio,  though  the  mystic  atmos- 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  257 

from  the  slime  and  triumphs  over  darkness.  Like  those 
heroes  of  charity  who  bring  their  help  to  lepers,  so 
he  goes  to  "  humiliated  and  offended  "  souls  and  brings 
them  comfort  in  the  Christian  acknowledgment  of  their 
human  dignity.  Calamity,  illness,  brutality,  poverty, 
—  he  approaches  everything  with  the  same  intrepidity. 
No  obstacle  is  powerful  enough  to  arrest  this  Living- 
stone of  darkest  misery. 

"  We  must  not  look  on  Dostoyevsky,"  says  a  critic, 
"as  on  an  ordinary  novelist,  a  talented  and  intelligent 
writer.     There  was  something  more  in  him,  and  just  that 
something   more    constitutes  his   characteristic    peculi- 
arity and  explains  his  influence  on  others."  ^     Dostoy- 
evsky's  influence  was  immense  ;  contrary  to  TourgenieflF, 
who  lived  chiefly  in  his  works,  and  whose  figure  to  the 
end  remained  a  riddle    surrounded  with   mistrust,  the 
author  of  "  Crime  and  Punishment "  became  the  most 
popular  figure  of  his  time ;  more  popular  perhaps  than 
Leo  Tolstoi  in  our  days,  for  his  popularity  was  free 
of  that  party  spirit  which  characterizes  the  followers  of 
the    latter.     Like  the  flood  of   the  ocean,  the  young 
generation   rushed   to   answer   his   appeal.      It   was   a 
noble,  a  beneficent  movement.     In  a  time  when  revolu- 
tionary ferment  troubled  the  minds  of  men  and  shook 
the    stability  of    faith    and    opinions,  when    the    great 
anonymous  monster  of  European  anarchy  was  enrolling 
and  engulfing  so  many   "fresh   forces,"   and   "honest 
minds "  among  Russian  youths,  when  hatred  and  de- 
struction were  proclaimed  the  principles  of  the  regenera- 

phere  which  emanates  from  Dostoyevsky's  work,  the  religious  beauty  which 
Boats  round  his  most  repukive  pictures,  is  totaUy  absent  m  the  Italian 

noveL 

1  VL  Solovioff,  "Three  Lectures  on  Dostoyevsky"  (Russian). 


s 


258  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

tion  of  the  world,  —  Dostoyevsky's  words  of  Christian 
humility  and  love  resounded  like  a  prophetic  warning. 
Coming  from  a  man  who  had  himself  gone  through 
four  years  of  hard  labour  in  Siberia,^  these  ideas  ac- 
quired an  authority  of  indisputableness  which  no  man 
could  venture  to  contest  unless  he  wished  to  do  wrong 
to  the  venerable  writer.^  He  was  more  than  a  leader,  he 
became  a  centre,  for  round  his  glowing  heart  diver- 
gency of  political  opinions  disappeared ;  with  his  ad- 
dress at  the  consecration  of  Poushkin's  monument  in 
Moscow,^  in  June,  1880,  he  enraptured  and  carried 
away  all  parties  :  Slavophiles,  Westemists,  liberals,  con- 
servatives, oblivious  of  divergencies,  all  joined  in  a  com- 
mon enthusiasm.  In  later  criticism,  divergent  opinions 
again  accentuated  themselves,  and  the  address  on  Poush- 
kin  was  judged  in  different  ways ;  but  at  the  moment 
when  it  was  delivered  all  were  in  accord  —  such  was  the 
power  of  this  man. 

His  small,  meagre  figure,  worn  out  with  torment  and 
epilepsy,  his  sepulchral  voice,  and,  in  spite  of  it,  a  most 
wonderful  elocution  in  which  the  inner  flame  contrasted 
with  the  ascetic  rigidity  of  his  appearance,  exercised  an 
almost  hypnotizing  fascination.  In  the  last  years  of 
his  life  he  several  times  appeared  in  public,  taking 
part  in  literary  evenings ;  his  last  novel,  "  The  Brothers 
Karamazov,"  was  just  being  written,  and  many  chapters 
of  that  book  so  full  of  horror,  where  religion  and  crime, 

1  Dostoyevsky  had  been  exiled  in  1849  for  having  been  involved  in  the 
so-called  "  Petrashevsy  affair." 

2  1  remember  the  words  of  Prof.  O.  Miller,  of  the  St  Petersburg  Uni- 
versity. In  one  of  his  lectures,  speaking  of  those  who  had  had  the  inten- 
tion of  carrying  fetters  before  Dostoyevsky's  cofl&n,  he  said,  "  No  greater 
offence  could  have  been  done  to  his  memory." 

»  See  Lecture  VI,  p.  187. 


k 


AND  RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  259 

asceticism  and  luxury,   intermingle  to  form  the  most 
terrifying  tragedy,  were  first  made  known  to  the  public, 
through  the  author's  own  voice.     I   remember  one  of 
those  evenings,  in  the  winter  of   1 879-1 880.     Tourge- 
nieff  was  in  Petersburg,  and  took  part  in  the  readings ; 
he  was  greeted  and  cheered  with  the  enthusiasm  we 
all  feel  in  recalling  the  finest  days  of  our  youth,  for 
strange  to  say,  Tourgenieff  will  always  remain  a  con- 
temporary of  young  people ;  in  our  generation  we  love 
him  for  what  we  felt  when  first  we  read  him,  for  never 
did  we  read  him  better  than  at  sixteen ;  we  look  back 
to  him,  we  love  him  like  a  reminiscence,  and  people 
greeted   him  on  that  night  like  a  dear  companion  of 
their    best    days.       Yet    the    white-haired    giant    who 
charmed  us  with  a  lovely  page  of  his  "  Sketches  of 
a   Hunter"  had  to  cede  the  palm  of  primacy  to  the 
puny  author  of  "Crime  and   Punishment,"  who  made 
us    shudder    with   a   new    chapter    of   the    "  Brothers 
Karamazov."     Quite  apart  from  their  respective  liter- 
ary merits,  the  personality  of  Dostoyevsky  at  that  time 
had  a  greater  power  over  the  heart ;  he  was  no  reminis- 
cence, he  was  an  active  part  of  life,  he  was  a  portion 
of  every  single  one  of  us,  and  he  was  greeted  with  the 
delirium  of  people  who  feel  their  whole  nature,  with  the 
experiences  of  the  past  and  the  aspirations  of  the  future, 
shaken  to  the  root.     When  he  died,  on  the  29th  of 
January,   1881,  people   felt  that  something  great  was 
missing  in  the  world,  and  in  his  own  words  they  said : 
"The   righteous   man  goes,  his  light  remains."      The 
light  left  behind  by  Dostoyevsky  is  one  of  the  purest 
that  shines  on  this  earth ;  it  is  one  of  the  most  precious 
legacies  bequeathed  by  man  to  future  generations. 
The  standard  by  which  we  are  to  judge  Dostoyev- 


26o  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

sky's  work  may  appear  from  the  following  lines  of  Leo 
Tolstoi :  "  I  never  saw  him,  never  had  any  relation  with 
him,  and  all  at  once  when  he  died  I  understood  that  he 
was  the  nearest,  the  dearest,  and  the  most  indispensable 
man  to  me.  Never  did  I  think  of  measuring  myself 
with  him,  never!  the  nature  of  what  he  did  was  such 
that  the  more  he  did,  the  better  I  felt.  Art  excites  me 
to  jealousy,  intelligence  as  well,  but  the  deeds  of  a  heart 
provoke  nothing  but  joy."  ^  He  was  in  literature  an 
active  and  untiring  worker  for  the  establishment  of  the 
Christian  principles  of  love,  humility,  self-abnegation. 
His  whole  system  of  ethics  is  contained  in  this  sen- 
tence, "  Every  man  is  a  sinner  against  every  man." 
From  a  more  strictly  national  point  of  view,  by  his 
theories  he  is  often  classified  in  a  party  which  may  be 
regarded  as  a  fraction  of  the  Slavophiles ;  and  as  one  of 
their  chief  arguments  is  that  the  upper  classes  have  de- 
tached themselves  from  the  national  soil,  and  that  they 
must  return  to  the  soil,  they  are  designated  with  a  name 
we  might  translate  by  "  Soilers."  ^  The  filiation  of  their 
ideas  would  run  as  follows :  the  lower  people  as  repre- 
sentative of  primitive  purity  and  the  depository  of  real 
Christianity,  uncorrupted  by  civilization,  becomes  an  ob- 
ject of  veneration.  If  we  are  bad,  it  is  because  we  have 
lost  that  which  they  have  preserved;  we  must  forget 
about  Europe,  think  of  nothing  but  ourselves,  in  patriotic 
humility,  not  in  patriotic  pride ;  we  must  enter  the  way 
of  individual  self-improvement,  we  must  become  like 
our  younger  brethren,  and  when  the  whole  country  shall 
be  regenerated  by  real  Christianity,  then  we  may  think 

1  Letter  to  N.  Strahov. 

2  Their  chief  representatives :  Pogodin,  Shevyrioff,  the  critic  Apollon 
Grigoriev;   in  our  days,  N.  Strahov,  critic  and  publicist 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  261 

of  others,  and  with  patriotic  self-consciousness  of  our 
regeneration  undertake  the  great  work  of  assimilating 
the  rest  of  the  world.  In  a  monthly  publication  called 
"  The  Diary  of  a  Writer,"  Dostoyevsky  set  forth  these 
ideas  with  an  ever-increasing  emphasis ;  warmed  by 
interests  of  actuality  and  excited  by  polemics,  his  tone 
often  became  sarcastic,  and  at  times  deviated  from  prin- 
ciples of  Christian  humility.  As  a  whole,  "The  Diary  of 
a  Writer"  is  not  one  of  the  finest  pages  of  Dostoyevsky's 
work,  but  it  presents  an  interesting  picture  of  the  most 
important  questions  of  political,  social,  and  literary  life 
as  they  refracted  themselves  in  the  mind  of  one  of  our 
greatest  writers. 

With  the  idea  of  individual  self-improvement,  we  touch 
the  source  of  the  two  chief  tendencies  of  Russian  thought. 
You  have  seen  that  with  Dostoyevsky  individual  self- 
improvement  becomes  the  starting-point  of  a  process 
which  gradually  leads  to  social,  national,  and  universal 
improvement;  and,  indeed,  with  him  the  individual 
soul  is  but  a  co-operating  part  of  the  collective  human 
soul ;  collectivity  is  the  principle  infused  in  the  whole 
work  of  him  who  said  that  "every  man  is  a  sinner 
against  every  man."  Individuality  is  but  an  instru- 
ment, the  final  aim  is  the  great  human  family,  and  the 
only  form  for  the  final  establishment  of  its  happiness 
is  one  universal  church,  identified  with  social  solidar- 
ity.    Such  were  Dostoyevsky's  ideas. 

But  now  comes  another  literary  giant ;  starting  from 
the  same  point  of  individual  self-improvement,  he  is  led 
in  quite  the  opposite  direction.  As  collectivity  is  gen- 
erally obtained  at  the  cost  of  individual  compromises,  as 
its  benefits  are  overweighed  by  its  deficiencies,  the  prin- 
ciple of  collectivity  is  condemned  and  declared  wrong  as 


262  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

paralyzing  the  normal  improvement  of  the  individual; 
ties  of  social,  national,  religious  collectivity  are  relaxed ; 
the  individual  is  abandoned  to  himself,  and  self -improve- 
ment, as  leading  to  an  inevitable  regeneration  of  the 
whole  through  the  partial  regeneration  of  the  units,  is 
imposed  upon  man  as  his  only  duty,  and  the  final  aim  of 
his  aspiration.  You  see  the  difiference  between  the  two 
theories.  With  Dostoyevsky  individual  self-improve- 
ment leads  to  unification,  it  leads  to  division  with  Leo 
Tolstoi. 

Strange  are  the  relations  of  the  artist  and  the  thinker 
in  this  wonderful  writer.  With  Tourgenieff  the  thinker 
is  latent,  he  is  subjected  to  the  artist ;  thought  is  the 
emanation,  the  result  of  beauty.  In  Dostoyevsky,  they 
coexist :  the  thinker  predominates,  yet  he  does  not  ex- 
pel the  artist;  he  takes  much  space,  he  is  cumbrous, 
he  makes  it  difficult  for  the  artist,  yet  the  latter  forces 
his  way  through  the  material  piled  together  by  the 
former,  and  with  a  single  scene  of  sublime  psychologi- 
cal reality  enforces  pages  of  philosophy.  In  Tolstoi, 
the  artist  and  the  thinker  also  coexist,  but  they  are 
rivals ;  they  never  speak  at  the  same  time,  they  seldom 
endorse  each  other's  words ;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they 
sometimes  do  not  agree  at  all.  And  yet,  it  is  always 
the  artist  who  is  right ;  the  thinker  raises  his  voice  with 
an  intrusive  persistence,  but  the  artist  will  not  be  out- 
done, and  whenever  he  reappears  in  all  the  indisputable 
authority  of  his  genius,  his  serene  vision  goes  further, 
straighter,  and  higher  than  any  philosophical  lucubra- 
tions of  the  thinker.^ 

*  General  Dragomirov,  well  known  for  his  theory  of  educating  the 
soldier  and  the  troop  (see  "Theories  du  General  Dragomiroff,"  Paris, 
Ch.  LavauzeUe.    «  Le  General  Dragomirow,"  Art  Roe,  «  Revue  des  Deur 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  263 


The  literary  figure  of  the  great  novelist  is  well  known  ; 
it  is  perhaps  the  first  example  in  the  history  of  uni- 
versal literature  of  a  writer  who  during  his  life  has  at- 
tained to  the  fullest  possible  degree  of  fame,  for  he  is 
the  first  great  writer  to  whom  it  has  been  g^ven  to  avail 
himself  of  all  the  means  of  dififusion  offered  by  modem 
civilization.  Whereas  Dante,  Shakespeare,  Cervantes, 
had  to  wait  centuries  till  they  should  be  translated  into 
all  languages;  till  printing  should  multiply  them  to 
infinity ;  till  the  means  of  transportation  should  be  so 
developed  as  to  carry  them  into  every  comer  of  the 
world,  Count  Tolstoi  had  the  luck  of  living  in  a  time 
when  just  that  very  ci\ilization  which  he  so  much  re- 
viles, grants  him  in  the  space  of  a  few  years  the  con- 
densed result  of  centuries ;  his  posthumous  glory  will 
not  be  greater  than  his  popularity.  Faithful  to  our 
programme  we  will  not  so  much  examine  his  talent 
and  his  ideas  as  their  influence,  and  how  far  they  have 
been  accepted. 

Seldom  has  a  writer's  talent  been  so  universally 
acknowledged  as  the  talent  of  the  author  of  "War 
and  Peace."  All  parties,  all  schools,  all  generations, 
all  nationalities,  agree.  Indisputable  as  life  itself  are 
his  wonderful  pictures  of  life ;  they  are  broad  and 
varied  as  life ;  they  are  terrible  as  life,  and  as  profound. 
No  one  has  fathomed  such  secret  springs  of  the  human 
soul ;   no  one  has  followed  it  so  close  to  the  threshold 


Mondes."  ist  November,  1895),  examining  "  War  and  Peace,"  from  the 
military  point  of  view,  makes  note  of  many  beautiful  scenes  contradicting 
false  theories :  "  It  is  almost  incomprehensible  how  the  same  man  can 
be  so  excellent  in  painting  pictures  of  battles  and  so  unsatisfactory  in  ex- 
plaining the  phenomena  of  war."  M.  Dragomirov,  Analysis  of  "  War  and 
Peace."     Kiev,  1895  (Russian). 


r 


264  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

of  earthly  existence ;  no  one  has  with  such  inexorable 
persistency  of  analysis  hunted  up  the  microbes  of  insin- 
cerity which  contaminate  the  human  conscience ;  no  one 
has  ransacked  with  such  cruel  serenity  the  yawning 
wounds  opened  by  psychological  vivisection.  And 
every  one  who  reads  Tolstoi's  books  feels  subjugated  by 
this  power,  and  yields  to  the  omnipotency  of  that  genius, 
which  in  the  epic  panoramas  of  his  novels  embraces 
armies,  nations,  countries,  and  which  in  a  short  tale  of 
two  peasants,  where  the  repenting  "  master  "  transfuses 
his  life  into  his  frozen  "  servant,"  has  embraced  the 
whole  of  humanity,  and  in  the  narrow  compass  of  a 
sledge,  lost  in  a  winter  tempest  and  buried  under  the 
snow,  has  concentrated  the  universe  and  shown  the 
gates  of  eternity. 

Such  is  the  artist  —  with  the  greatest  uniting  power 
ever  displayed  by  a  novelist.  But  the  thinker  appears, 
and  seems  to  make  it  his  aim  to  undo  the  work  of  the 
artist.  It  is  the  most  striking  feature  of  Tolstoi's  in- 
tellect, this  contrast  between  the  uniting  power  of  his 
literature  and  the  disintegration  preached  by  his  phi- 
losophy. The  disintegration  begins  with  his  own  per- 
son. The  thinker  detaches  himself  from  the  individual 
and  becomes  the  analyzer,  the  judge,  and  the  prose- 
cutor of  the  artist.  The  author  of  "  War  and  Peace  " 
is  condemned  by  the  author  of  "  My  Religion."  Art 
is  declared  a  plaything  unworthy  of  those  who  really 
care  for  the  prosperity  of  their  brethren.  Does  not 
the  lower  people  ignore  Poushkin,  Gogol,  Tourge- 
nieff.?  Does  it  feel  any  necessity  of  knowing  them.?^ 
The  upper  classes  must  concentrate  their  activity  only 

'  "  Progress  and  the  Definition  of  Instrucdon." 


'M 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  265 

upon   such  things   as  bring   an  immediate   benefit   to 
the  masses  ;  all  that  does  not  aim  at  this  is  superfluous, 
and  we  must  give   up   all    superfluity.      The    thinker 
forces  the  artist  to  write  fairy-tales  for  the  peasants, 
and   the   artist  is  so   beautiful  in    his   universality,  so 
unconscious  of  social  distinctions  in  his  picturing  of  the 
human  soul,  that  these  fairy-tales  composed  for  peas- 
ants become  favourites  with  every  one.     The  thinker 
forces  the  artist  to  give  up  painting,  to  drop  the  brush, 
to  pick  up  the  pen,  and  to  become  a  philosophical  writer. 
At  this  point  the  spirit  of   disintegration  passes  from 
his  person  into  his  theories,  and  finally  into  the  opinions 
of  those  who  were  so  unanimous  in  their  judgment  of 
the  artist.     In  a  few  words,  Tolstoi's  teachings  may  be 
summed  up  as  follows:    their   basis   is   non-resistance 
to  evil ;  their  dogma,  the  perniciousness  of  civilization 
as  the  result  of  collectivity ;  their  practical  prescription, 
the  dissolution  of  society  to  the  benefit  of  the  individ- 
ual.i     We  will  not  pause  to  consider  the  good  side  of  his 
preaching  which,  in  the  main,  can  be  reduced  to  a  cam- 
paign against  human  insincerity  in  all  its  manifestations 
—  the   author   pleads   his   cause  well  enough  himself. 
We  will  rather   follow  up  its  defects,  and  even  not  so 
much  the  intrinsic  defects  of  the  teaching  as  the  de- 
fective side  of  its  influence. 

The  real  followers  of  Tolstoi,  the  regular  "Tolstoi- 
ists,"  are  not  numerous;  they  are  people  worthy  of  all 
esteem  for  carrying  out  within  the  limits  of  possibility  the 

»  In  a  private  letter  kindly  communicated  to  me  by  VI.  S.  Soloviofi, 
Count  Tolstoi  thus  formulates  the  practical  application  of  this  theory: 
"  I  think  that  there  can  be  no  other  way  for  me  to  warm  up  the  masses 
except  the  development  of  the  greatest  quantity  of  warmth  in  myself;  any 
effort  of  mine  aiming  at  another  purpose  is  a  useless  waste  of  energy." 


266  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

prescription  of  abdicating  superfluity,  though  the  line  is 
always  somewhat  hard  to  draw  between  that  which  is 
really  necessary,  and  that  which  only  seems  so.  The 
Count  himself,  at  his  country-place,  gives  rather  strange 
examples  of  practical  application.  The  author  of  "  Anna 
Karenina"  plunges  his  hands  into  clay,  and  builds  stoves 
which  afterwards  are  rebuilt  by  regular  stove  builders. 
Every  day  he  takes  an  hour  of  ploughing,  after  which 
exercise  he  enjoys  the  satisfaction  of  eating  his  dinner 
"  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow."  Of  all  this,  is  it  the  plough 
and  stoves  the  Count  considers  necessary,  or  is  it  the 
dinner  he  intends  with  time  to  eliminate  as  superfluous  ? 
And  yet  this  practical  side,  however  ridiculous  in  its 
innocence,  is  the  only  positive  element  of  the  teaching ; 
all  the  rest  is  negative,  and  just  this  negation  which 
underlies  the  theory  is  the  poisonous  and  yet  attractive 
side  of  it,  at  least  attractive  for  those  who,  themselves 
never  having  strained  their  energies  in  the  cause  of 
positive  faith,  feel  glad  to  be  absolved  from  any  striv- 
ings by  him  who  teaches  that  our  ideal  lies  behind,  and 
not  before  us.  The  relaxing  of  human  energy,  this  is 
the  corrupting  element  of  the  theory.  Modem  society 
as  it  has  crystallized  itself  is  declared  wrong:  there- 
fore, all  who  had  but  a  slight  impulse  of  the  sense  of 
duty  grasp  at  the  theory  as  at  a  deliverance.  Why 
should  we  work  as  long  as  the  accomplishment  of  our 
best  intentions  depends  upon  a  state  of  things  which  is 
wrong  ?  All  efforts  of  charity,  all  real  enthusiasm,  are 
undermined;  nihilistic  laughter  greets  the  best  striv- 
ings; a  man  has  founded  a  hospital,  but  the  hospital 
depends  upon  the  government,  and  governments  are 
immoral,  —  consequently,  the  man  is  pitied  as  one  who 
errs ;  another  gives  a  sum  for  charitable  institutions ;  if 


AND   RUSSIAN    LITERATURE  267 

he  were  a  real  Christian,  it  is  said,  he  ought  to  have  given 
away  everything  —  this  does  not  count.  Here,  we  re- 
peat, we  do  not  judge  the  teaching,  we  simply  state  the 
results  of  its  influence.  People  start  from  the  point 
that,  if  measured  by  the  Gospel,  we  are  all  insolvent 
debtors,  and  therefore  those  who  make  efforts  to  acquit 
themselves,  at  least  of  a  portion  of  their  debts,  are 
ridiculed.^  The  intellectual  influence  is  no  less  relax- 
ing than  the  moral ;  civilization  is  proclaimed  perni- 
cious, and  the  ignorant  by  the  fact  of  his  ignorance 
considers  himself  above  all  others.*  Authorities  are 
undermined,  all  workers  of  human  enlightenment  de- 
throned, people  who  have  never  read  a  line  of  philoso- 
phy declare  with  profession  of  competency  that  there  is 
but  one  philosopher  in  the  world,  and  this  is  Count 
Tolstoi.^  The  religious  influence  is  still  worse.  Tol- 
stoi constructs  his  teaching  on  a  basis  of  scripture  texts; 
he  and  his  followers  consider  that  they  have  the  mo- 
nopoly of*  the  right  comprehension  of  the  Gospels, 
—  and  thus  people  who  never  believed  anything  grasp 
at  the  Gospel,  not  in  order  to  learn,  but  in  order  to 

1  The  limits  of  man's  duties  are  so  much  widened,  their  object  removed 
to  such  unattainable  distances  in  his  book,  "  Light  is  Within  Yourself," 
that  between  the  uselessness  of  their  present  activities  »nd  the  onattaina- 
bleness  of  the  ideals,  all  energies  relapse  into  hopeless  apathy. 

2  "Those  who  are  on  principle  enemies  of  governmental  organization 
are  always,  and  necessarily,  on  principle  enemies  of  culture."  VI.  Solo- 
vioff,  "The  Sense  of  the  State,"  in  "  European  Messenger,"  December,  1895 
(Russian). 

«  All  critics  who  have  applied  the  scientific  standard  to  Tolstofi  philo- 
sophical writings  are  unanimous  as  to  the  instabflity  of  his  phflosophical 
vocabulary  and  the  obscurity  of  his  logical  methods.  A.  Kozloff,  "  Letters 
on  Count  Leo  Tolstoi's  Book  'On  Ufe'"  in  "Questions  in  Philosophy 
and  Psychology."  Second  year,  Nos.  5,  6,  7.  Moscow,  1890.  B.  Youse- 
fovich,  "  On  the  Philosophical  Teachings  of  Count  Leo  Tolstoi"  (Russian). 


268  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 


establish  the  inferiority  of  those  who  believe,  but  can- 
not live  up  to  its  commands;  on  the  basis  of  Chris- 
tianity, a  sect  is  arising  which  supplants  charity  and 
love  by  criticism  and  scorn. 

And  what  is  offered  in  all  this  as  the  positive  beacon 
of  hope  ?  Tolstoi  himself  says  he  cannot  foresee  what 
will  become  of  the  world  if  all  men  follow  his  pre- 
cepts;^ yet  he  asserts  that  our  ideal  lies  "behind 
us  " ;  *  this  evidently  means  ages  anterior  to  civilization. 
Only  he  does  not  determine  the  chronological  moment : 
is  it  the  age  of  iron  or  the  age  of  stone?  Or  if  he 
used  the  term  in  the  sense  of  the  age  of  the  individual, 
will  he  say  it  was  meant  as  the  purity  of  childhood.^ 
Again,  the  moment  is  not  determined.  When  does  im- 
purity begin.''  To  be  completely  free  from  impurity, 
we  must  return  to  those  days  when  we  yet  did  not 
exist.  And  indeed,  in  the  "  Kreutzer  Sonata,"  mankind 
is  given  advice  which  is  equivalent  to  suicide.^  A  the- 
ory, the  principle  of  which  is  dissolution,  could  not  but 
lead  to  death. 

Dismemberment  of  society  means  retrograding  of  in- 
dividuals ;  and  where  is  the  end  of  this  gradual  abdi- 
cation ?  Shall  we  retrograde  into  the  depth  of  centuries 
till  we  "  return  to  earth  "  ?  Life  is  not  possible  with- 
out struggles;  plants  struggle  and  expel  each  other; 
society  is  the  regulator  of  individual  struggles.  If  soci- 
ety is  wrong  as  it  exists,  this  does  not  mean  that  it  must 
be  altogether  destroyed  or  that  the  spirit  of  sociabil- 

»  "  Ught  is  Within  Yourself." 

*  "  Progress  and  the  Definition  of  Instruction.*' 

'  The  implacability  appears  cold  and  cruel  of  a  teaching  which  in  the 
name  of  love  recommends  the  self-suppression  of  mankind  for  the  benefit 
of  an  abstract  theory. 


AND   RUSSIAN   LITERATURE  269 

ity  is  an  element  of  nature  which  man  must  counter- 
check.^   How  long  would  Count  Tolstoi  have  to  wait  be- 
fore individual  self-improvement  would  suppress  servi- 
tude ?     There  would  have  been  no  servitude,  he  will 
answer,  had  humanity  not  shaped  itself  into  societies. 
Maybe  so,  yet  we  cannot  suppress  the  past,  we  have  to 
work  on  the  given  basis,  we  cannot  start  the  world  anew ; 
servitude  was  a  given  fact,  and  once  again,  how  long 
should  we  have  had  to  wait  for  this  given  fact  to  die 
away  ?     The  world  as  it  exists  is  also  a  fact,  a  living 
fact,  not  a  dead   sentence  which   can  be   erased  and 
another  substituted  for  it ;    and  as  it  exists  it  lives,  and 
nothing  will  arrest  its  further  evolution  on  the  basis  of 
the  past.     The  duty  of  the  future  is  to  regulate,  not  to 
suppress  the  continuation  of  the  world's  growth,  there- 
fore future  ages  will  work  at  the  extension,  and  not 
at   the   extinction   of    that  which    has    been    acquired 
by  preceding  ages.      For  the  past  exists  as  well  as  the 
future,  and  cannot  be  forced  into  non-existence.     Count 
Tolstoi    says    that  the   lower    people    does   not  know 
Poushkin,  and  therefore  he   concludes  Poushkins  are 
useless.     But  he  knows  Poushkin,  and  he  cannot  force 
himself  to  forget  him ;  and  so  long  as  he  remembers  he 
must  want  others  to  know  him,  for  the  moment  they 
know  him,  they  will  want  him. 

No,  Count  Tolstoi  shall  not  impede  the  blossoming 
of  the  world;  however  powerful  the  thinker,  he  shall 
never  make  anyone  believe  that  the  author  of  "War 

1  Dismemberment  seems  not  only  the  aim  of  Tolstoi's  theories,  but  a 
tendency  of  his  very  intellectual  proceedings.  This  is  what  the  above- 
quoted  General  Dragomirov  says  in  speaking  of  Tolstoi's  views  on  the 
elements  working  in  war  :  "  Does  he  not  remind  us  of  a  chemist  who.  after 
having    decomposed  water  and  not  knowing  how  to  combine  it  agam, 


87©  PICTURES  OF  RUSSIAN   HISTORY 

and  Peace "  is  useless  because  unknown  to  the  igno- 
rant ;  the  philosopher  shall  not  force  out  the  artist, 
and  shall  not  prevent  him  from  becoming,  even  in 
spite  of  himself,  one  of  the  greatest  educators  of  the 
future  generations ;  the  repentant  author  will  not  be 
able  to  erase  himself  from  the  list  of  the  benefactors  of 
humanity,  for  the  artist  in  him  has  embodied  in  beauty 
too  many  great  ideas,  and  "  beauty,  or  the  incorporated 
ideal,"  says  our  philosopher,  "  is  the  better  part  of 
our  real  world,  the  one  which  not  only  exists,  but  is 
worthy  of  existence."^ 

would  affirm  that  water  does  not  exist  in  nature,  and  that  there  are  only 
oxygen  and  hydrogen  —  two  gases  thoroughly  different  and  having  nothing 
in  common."  (Op.  cit.)  The  interesting  thing  about  this  is  that  it  was 
said  while  "  War  and  Peace  "  was  being  written,  consequently  long  before 
Count  Tolstoi  had  entered  the  career  of  philosopher. 

^  VI.  Solovioff,  "  Beauty  in  Nature,"  in  "  Questions  of  Philosophy  and 
Psychology."     First  year,  No.  i.     Moscow,  1889  (Russian), 


CHRONOLOGICAL    INDEX 


Dates  marked  with  a  star  (*)  are  not  mentioned  in  the  text 


862. 

.  .  Beginning  of  Russia. 

1556  .  . 

.  Fall  of  Astrakhan. 

912 . 

.  .  Oleg's  treaty  with  Byzan- 

1564. . 

.  First  book  printed  in  Rus- 

tium. 

sia. 

957- 

.  .  Baptism  of  Princess  Olga. 

1584.  . 

.  t  John  the  Terrible. 

988 

.  .  Baptism  of  Russia. 

1584.  . 

.  Conquest  of  Siberia. 

1015 

.  .  t  Vladimir. 

1591  .  . 

.  Murder  of  Tsarevich  Di- 

1054 

.  .  fYaroslav, 

mitry. 

1056 

.  .  "The  Gospel  of  Ostromir." 

»597- 

.  fTheodor. 

mo 

.  .  "  Pilgrimage  of  the  Prior 

1597- 

.  Peasants  bound  to  the  soiL 

Daniel. " 

1598 :  . 

.  Accession  of  Boris  Godou- 

1113 

.  .  t  Nestor. 

nofil 

1125 

.  .  t  Vladimir  Monomah. 

1604 .  . 

.  Dimitry,  the  first  impostor. 

1147 

.  .  First  mention  of  Moscow. 

1605  .  . 

.  t  Boris  Godoimofil 

1224 

.  .  Mongolian  invasion. 

1612  .  . 

.  Minin  and  Pojarsky. 

1240 

.  .  Destruction  of  Kiev  by  the 

1613 .  . 

.  Election  of  Michael  Ro- 

Tartar. 

manov. 

1328 

.  .  Moscow — chief  town. 

1633 .  . 

.  The    Slavo  •  Greco  -  Latin 

1341 

.  .  t  John  I,  Kalita. 

Academy. 

1380 

.  .  Battle  of  Koulikovo. 

1645.  . 

.  t  Michael 

1439 

.  .  .  The  Florentine  Council. 

1652 . 

.  Nikon  —  patriarch. 

1462 

.  .  .  Accession  of  John  III. 

1655. 

.  Revision  of  the  Texts. 

1472 

.  .  .  Marriage  of  John  III  with 

1660. 

.  Scission  of   the    Russian 

Sophia  of  Pabeologus. 

Church. 

1497 

.  .  .  *  Judicial   Code   by   John 

1672 . 

.  Birth  of  Peter  the  Great 

III. 

1676. 

.  t  Alexis. 

1505 

.  .  .  t  John  III. 

1682. 

.  fTheodor. 

»547 

.  .  .  Crowning  of  John  IV,  the 

1689. 

.  Beginning  of  Peter's  reign. 

Terrible. 

1695. 

.  Campaign  of  Azofil 

1550 

.  .  .  Judicial  Code  by  John  IV. 

1697. 

.  *  Peter's  first  joomej 

1552 

..  Fall  of  Kazan. 

7« 

abroad. 

272 


CHRONOLOGICAL  INDEX 


1700. . 

.  Battle  of  Narva. 

»799. 

.  .  Italian  Campaign  of  Soa- 

1700. . 

.  The  beginning  of  the  year 

varov. 

transferred    from     Sep- 

1800. 

.  .  First  edition  of  the  "  Word 

tember  to  January. 

about  Igor's  Fights." 

I700-1721.  "Northern  War."            | 

1801  . 

..tPaulI. 

1703  .  . 

.  Foundation  of  St.  Peters- 

1803. 

.  .  *  University     of  .   Dorpat 

burg,                         [per. 

(now  Youryev). 

1703  .  . 

.  "  Russian  News,"  first  pa- 

1805  . 

.  .  *  University  of  Kazan. 

1709.  . 

.  Battle  of  Poltava. 

1810. 

.  .  Lyceum  of  Tsarskoye  Selo. 

1711.. 

.  Institution  of  the  senate. 

1812  . 

.  .  "Fatherland  War." 

1716.  . 

.  Statute    of    military    con- 

1816. 

.  .  fDerjavine. 

scription. 

1818. 

.  .  "History  of  the  Russian 

1717.. 

.  •  Peter's    second   journey 

State  "  by  Karamsin. 

abroad. 

1819  . 

.  .  University   of  St   Peters- 

1718. . 

•  •  t  Tsarevich  Alexis. 

burg. 

1721  .  . 

.  Peace  of  Neostadt. 

1820. 

.  .  "Rouslan  and  Ludmila," 

1725  .  . 

.  t  Peter  the  Great. 

by  Poushkin. 

1725  .  . 

.  Foundation  of  the  Acad- 

1823 . 

.  .  "Eugene     Oneguin,"    by 

emy  of  Science. 

Poushkin. 

1727  .  . 

.  t  Catherine  I. 

1825  . 

.  .  t  Alexander  I. 

1730  .  . 

.  t  Peter  II. 

1825  . 

.  .  "  The  Decembrists' "  rev- 

1740 .  . 

.  t  Empress  Anna. 

olution. 

1741  .  . 

.  Accession  of  Empress  Eliz- 

1826. 

.  .  t  Karamsin. 

abeth. 

1833. 

.  .  *  University  of  Kiev. 

1744.. 

.  fKantemir. 

1835- 

.  .  "The  Revisor,"  by  GogoL 

1750 .  . 

.  fTatischev. 

1837- 

.  .  t  Poushkin. 

>755-- 

.  University  of  Moscow. 

1841  . 

.  .  fLermontov. 

1 756-1763.   Seven  Years'  War. 

1842. 

.  .  tKoltzoff 

1757  •• 

.  *  Academy  of  Fine  Arts. 

1842  . 

.."The    Dead    Souls,"    by 

1761  .  . 

.  t  Empress  Elizabeth. 

Gogol. 

1762  .  . 

.  Accession  of  Catherine  the 

1843. 

.  .  Archaeographical  Commis- 

Great. 

9on. 

1765  .  . 

.  fLomonossov. 

1846. 

.  .  Archaeological  Society. 

1777  •• 

•  tSoumarokov.           [ety." 

1846. 

.  .  Geographical  Society. 

1781  .  . 

.  "Friendly  Scientific  Soci- 

1847. 

.  .  "  Sketches  of  a  Hunter," 

1782  .  . 

.  "  The  Underaged,"  by  Von 

by  Tourgenieff. 

Viezin. 

1848. 

.  .  t  Belinsky. 

1783  .  . 

.  Annexation  of  the  Crimea. 

1852. 

.  .  tjoultovsky. 

1790.  . 

.  "  Letters    of    a     Russian 

•853- 

1856.  Crimean  War. 

Tourist,"  by  Karamsin. 

1855- 

.  .  t  Nicolas  I. 

1792  .  . 

.  fVon  Viezin. 

1859. 

. .  «  On  the  Eve,"  by  Tour- 

1796.. 

.  t  Catherine  the  Great. 

geniefiL 

CHRONOLOGICAL  INDEX 


273 


i86o.  . 

.  "  Fathers   and   Sons,"  by 

1874. 

.  .  *  Compulsory  military  ser- 

Tourgenieff. 

vice. 

1862  .  . 

.  ♦University  of  Odessa. 

1877- 

1878.  *  Turkish  War. 

1864.  . 

.  Institution  of  the  provin- 

1878. 

.  .  "  The  Devils,"  by  Dostoy- 

cial  self-govermnenL 

evsky. 

1864. 

.  "Judicial    Code    of    Em- 

1878. 

.  .  fNeknwsov. 

peror  Alexander  II." 

1881. 

.  .  t  Dostoyevsky. 

1867. 

.  ♦  Cession   of  the  Russian 

1881. 

.  .  t  Alexander  IL 

territory  in  America. 

1883. 

.  .  t  Tourgenieff. 

1872. 

.  "  War     and    Peace,"    by 

1888 

.  .  •  Siberian  Univeisitj 

Count  Leo  Tolstoi. 

(Tomsk). 

1894 

.  ..  t  Alexander  m. 

GENEALOGICAL    TABLE 


(The  names  in  parentheses   are  not  mentioned   in  the  text;  all  the  others  can  btt 
found  out  with  the  aid  of  the  Index  of  names.) 


Rurik    NOVGOROD 

Igor  =  Olga    KIEV 

Sviatoslav 

Vladimir  =  Anna  of  Byzantium 

Yaroslav  the  Wise 


DYNASTY  OF  RITRIK" 
862-1598 

Dimitry  Donskoy 


BazUI 

Bazil  II  the  Gloomy 

John  III  =  Sophia  Palseologus 

BazU  III 


John    Theodor    Dimitry 


Vsevolod     Elizabeth    Anna    Anastasia        John  IV  the  Terrible 

I  I      =  Anastasia  Romanov 

Vladimir  Monomah 

(George)     SOUZDAL 

(Vsevolod) 

Yaroslav 

(Alexander  Nevsky) 

(Daniel)     MOSCOW 

JohnlKaliU 


Simeon  the  Proud  (John  II) 

Dimitry  Donskoy 


«7$. 


INDEX   OF  NAMES 


Abolition  of  Serfdom,  241,  242,  243, 

244.  245,  246. 
Academy,  Russian,  135,  139,  156,  169. 
"  Adam's  Lament,"  ecclesiastical  poem, 

47- 
Aksakov,  brothers,  Slavophiles,  228. 
Aksakov,  Constantine,  84, 125,  233. 
Aksakov,  J.,  187. 
Aksakov,  Serge,  229. 
Aldus  Manucius,  Venetian  editor,  90. 
Alexander  I,  Emperor,  23,  24,  25,  iii, 

179,  189,  208,  214,  215. 
Alexander  II,  Emperor,  26, 27, 228, 236, 

239,  240, 241,  244,  246. 
Alexander  III,  Emperor,  23,  27. 
Alexander  the  Great,  64. 
Alexander,    Emperor    of    Byzantium, 

58. 
Alexandra  Theodorovna,  Empress,  wife 

of  Nicholas  I,  217. 
Alexis,  Tsar,  17,  20,  96,  97,  98, 100, 102, 

103.  104.  105. 
Alexis,   Tsarevitch,  son   of  Peter  the 

Great,  120,  121,  133. 
Anastasia,  Princess,  daughter  of  Yaro- 

slav,  queen  of  Hungaria,  58. 
Anastasia  Romanov,  wife  of  John  the 

Terrible,  81. 
Andrew  I,  King  of  Hungaria,  58. 
Anna,  Grand  Duchess  of  Kiev,  wife  of 

Vladimir,  38,  58. 
Anna,  Princess,  daughter  of  Yaroslav, 

Queen  of  France,  58. 
Anna,  Empress  of  Byzantium,  daughter 

of  Basil  the  Gloomy,  76. 
Anna,  Empress,  Duchess  of  Courland, 

133.  137- 
Anna,  Duchess  of  Holstein,  daughter  of 
Peter  the  Great,  123,  134. 


Anna,  Duchess  of  Brunswick,  F^ent. 

133- 
Annunrio,  Gabriele  d*,  256. 
Anton  Ulrich,  Duke  of  Branswick,  13^ 
Arakcheyev,  Count,  215. 
Archeographical  Society,  a:^ 
Archeological  Society,  236. 
Anna  Rodionovna,  nuise  of  Poashkin. 

190. 
Aristoteles  (see  Fioraventi). 
"  Arithmetic,"  by  Magnitsky,  115. 
"  Arzamas,"  literary  society.  190^  191. 

Bacon,  92. 

Balashov,  envoy  of  Alexander  I  to  Na- 
poleon I,  III. 

Baldouin,  King  of  Jemsalem.  41. 

Baptism  of  Russia,  38. 39. 

Baratynsky,  poet,  209. 

Barth61emy,  176. 

Basil  II,  the  Gloomy.  Grand  Duke  of 
Moscow,  76,  81. 

Basil  III,  Grand  Duke  of  Moscow.  77. 

Basil,  Emperor  of  Byzantiam,  38.  jo. 

Batioushkov,  poet,  190L 

Bayer,  scientist,  135. 

Bazarov,  hero  of  "  Fathers  and  Sons,** 
by  Tourgenieff,  253. 

Beaumarchais,  dramatist,  153. 

Belinsky,  V.,  critic,  85.  158,  16a,  179^ 
182.  184.  185,  186, 199,  aoo.  ao4,  «fi. 
230,  231,  232,  236,  251. 

Bestoujev-Rumin,  historian,  235. 

Blankenstein,  Sophia.  Princess  ci,  wife 
of  Tsarevitch  Alexis.  lai. 

Bodenstedt,  poet,  50.  209.  aix. 

Boileau,  poet,  137,  161. 

Bopp,  scientist,  235. 

Boris  Godounofi;  Tsar.  15, 86^  *^a. 


277 


276 


GENEALOGICAL  TABLE 


i 

< 
IS 
o 


o 

CQ 
H 
H 


o 


a 


u 


II        •* 
^         II 


•5      II 


O 


CO 

< 
Q 


u 


•— a  ■ 


s 

< 
II 

II 

J< 

.s     «- 


S         'S 


e 
o 

e 

< 


278 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


"  Boris  Godounofi;"  drama  by  Poasb- 

kin,  86. 188. 
"  Brothers  Karamazov,"  novel  by  Dos- 

toyevsky,  258,  259. 
Brueckner.  A.,   75,  99,  100.  108.    112. 

i?i,  134,  140. 147.  M8.  155.  157.  IS9. 

160, 162. 
Buonaparte,  23, 173. 
Byron,  Lord,  196,  zil. 

Calderon  de  la  Barca,  9a. 

Carlyle,  131. 

Catherine  I,  Empress,  wife  of  Peter  the 

Great,  21,  123,  133,  135. 
Catherine  11,  the  Great. 4,  21.  22,51,  69, 

104,  123.  131.  132,  133.  134. 147.  148, 

150.  152.  154.  157,  158.  159, 160.  163, 

168,  170.  183,  189.  214. 
Catherine,  Duchess  of   Mecklenburg, 

niece  of  Peter  the  Great,  146. 
Cervantes,  92.  263. 
Chancellor,  Captain,  78,  80. 
Channing,  239. 

Charles  V,  German  Emperor,  77,  79^ 
Charies  XII,   King  of  Sweden,    no, 

III. 
Charles  I,  King  of  England,  152. 
Charles  Frederick,  Duke  of  Holstein, 

123.  134- 

Charles  Leopold,  Duke  of  Mecklen- 
burg. 133. 

Chiteaubriand,  174. 

Chemyshevsky,  N.  G^  critic,  novelist, 

251- 

Ch6tardie,  de  la,  French  envoy  under 
Empress  Elizabeth.  133. 

Chinguis  Khan,  65, 

Christian  IV',  King  of  I>enmark,  17. 

Chronology,  Russian,  119. 

"  Cloak,"  the.  novel  by  Gogol,  •y>^ 

Comedies  by  the  Elmpress  Catherine 
the  Great,  155. 

"  Confusion,  Times  of."  17. 

Constantine.  Emperor  of  Byzantium,  38. 

Constantine  the  Porphyrogenitus,  Em- 
peror of  Byzantium.  58. 

Constantine  Monomah,  Ejnperor  of 
Byzantium,  58. 

Constantine  Palaeologus,  EJnperor  of 
Byzantium,  73. 


Constantine  the  Great,  lao. 

Constantine,  Grand  Duke,  son  of  Em- 
peror Paul,  150. 

"Crime  and  Punishment,"  novel  by 
Dostoyevsky.  256,  257,  259. 

Crispus.  son  of  Constantine  the  Great, 
120. 

Cjrril,  the  Greek  missionary,  39. 

D'Alembert,  149, 150, 

•'  Daniel's  Pilgrimage,"  41. 

Danilevsky,  9,  124. 

Dante.  263. 

Dashkoff,  Princess,  president  of  the 
Academy  of  Science,  148,  156. 

"  Dead  Souls,"  novel  by  Gogol,  2ao, 
225,  226,  227. 

"  December  Revolution,"  215. 

Delvig.  poet,  172.  208,  209,  212. 

"  Demon."  poem  by  Lermontov,  211. 

"  Departure  from  the  Theatre,"  dra- 
matic scene  by  Gogol,  225. 

Derjavine.  G.  R.,  poet,  22,  155,  156, 
157.  158,  163.  164,  170,  172.  183, 
184. 

Descartes,  92. 

"  Devils,"  novel  by  Dostoyevsky,  253. 

"  Diary  of  a  Writer,"  by  Dostoyevsky, 
261. 

Diderot,  14^.  150,- 

Dimitry  Donskby,  Grand  Duke  of  Mos- 
cow. 14.  68.  71. 

Dimitry,  son  of  John  the  Terrible,  15, 
86. 

Dimitry,  impostors,  15,  86t 

Dimitry  of  Rostoff,  Metropolitan.  loi. 

"  Distress  from  Too  Much  Intellect," 
comedy  by  Griboyedov,  ao8. 

Dobrolubov,  critic,  251. 

Dostoyevsky,  5,  202,  ao8,  218.  236,  247, 
248.  249,  253.  254,  256.  257.  258,  259, 
261,  262. 

Dragomirov,  General,  262,  269. 

Edward  VI,  King  of  EngiAnd,  77, 78. 
Elisabeth,  Princess,  Yaroslav's  dati^i- 

ter,  queen  of  Norway,  58. 
Elizabeth.  Empress,  21,  123,  124,  140, 

145.  146.  160. 
Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England,  14, 79. 


INDEX   OF  NAMES 


279 


Emerson,  3,  167. 

Emperor,  title  of,  assumed,  117. 

Eugene  IV,  Pof>e,  76. 

"  Eugene  Oneguin,"  novel  by  Poushkin, 

188,  189,  192,  209,  211. 
Euler,  mathematician,  141. 
"  Evenings  on  a  Farm  near  Dikanka," 

novel  by  Gogol,  223, 

*'  Family  Chronicle,"  by  C.  Aksakov, 

229.  , 
"  Fathers  and  Sons,"  novel  by  Tour- 

genieff,  253,  254. 
.  ■"  Faust,"  by  Goethe,  229. 
■"  Felitsa,"  ode  by  Derjavine,  156. 
Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  65. 
Fet,  A.,  227. 

■"  Figaro,  Marriage  of^"  153. 
Filaret,  Patriarch,  16. 
Fioraventi,  Aristoteles,  architect,  76. 
Fletcher,  Giles,  78. 
"  Forties,"  the,  an  epoch,  227,  230.  236, 

239- 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  152. 
Frederick  IV,  Emperor  of  Germany, 

75- 
Frederick  the  Great,  lao,  125, 146, 147, 

ISO- 
Frederick   William    of    Brandenburg, 

"S- 
Frederica,  Princess  of  Anhalt  Zerbst 

(Catherine  the  Great),  134, 147. 
Friendly  Society,  17a 

Galileo,  92. 

Galitzin,  Prince,  Field  Marshal,  107. 

Galitzin,  Prince  Vasili,  104. 

Geoffrin,  Madame,  149. 

Geographical  Society,  236. 

"  German  Suburb"  (Moscow),  loa 

Glinka,  M.,  184. 

Goethe,  35,  158,  169,  203,  228,  229. 

Gogol,  N.  v.,  5,  26, 51, 88,  183, 202,  207, 

208,  212,  217,  218,  219,  220,  223,  226, 

227, 230,  252,  264. 
Golovkin,  chancellor,  117. 
Goncharoff,  I.  A.,  novelist,  236.  253, 

254-  A 

Gorchakoff,  Prince,  chancellor,  17a. 
Oranovsky,  professor,  historian,  228. 


Gregory,  Godfried,  clergyman,  103. 
Griboyedov,  A-  S^  dramatist,  ao8. 
Grigorovich,  A.  V.,  novelist,  247. 
Giimm,    Friedrich    Melchior,    Baron, 

cyclopedist,  149,  150,  152,  160,  235. 
Gustave  Adolphus  of  Sweden,  17. 

Hadrian,  Patriarch,  114. 

Henckel,  scientist,  139. 

Hapgood,  Isabel  F.,  50. 

Harold,  King  of  England,  58. 

Harold,  King  of  Norway,  58. 

Hastings,  princess  of,  14. 

Hegel,  philosopher,  229,  233. 

Helen,  heroine  of  "  On  the  Etc,"  by 

Tourgenieff,  255. 
Heraskov.  ix>et,  171. 
Herberstein,  Baron,  German  envoy,  77. 
Herder,  scientist,  176. 
Herodotus,  31,  3a,  64. 
Hilferding,  writer,  49. 
"  History   of  the   Russian  State,"  by 

Karamsin,  25.  55,  175,  179,  190. 
"  History,"  by  Kourbsky,  90,  91. 
Holy  Alliance,  215. 
HomiakofI,  A.  S.,  234. 
Hugo,  Victor,  ao8. 
"  House-builder,"  by  Sylvester,  91. 
"  Humiliated  and  Offended,"  by  Dos- 

toyevsky,  256. 

Igor,  Prince  of  Kiev,  50, 91. 
Ilarion,  Bishop,  writer,  41. 
Imperial  Historical  Society,  236. 
"  Inspector,"   the,   comedy  by  Gogol, 

ao8,  217,  224,  225,  226. 
Isabella  of  Spain,  73. 
Isidor,  Metropolitan  of  Moscow;  76, 77. 

James  I,  King  of  England,  17. 

John  I,  Kalita,  Grand  Duke  of  Mos- 
cow, 67. 

John  III,  Grand  Duke  of  Moscow,  14, 
65.  69, 70, 72,  73, 74, 75,  76,  77,  80,  81. 

John  IV,  the  Terrible,  Tsar.  14.  69.  70, 
71,  75,  77, 78,  80,  81,  84,  85,  86.  87, 90, 
91,  98.  124, 137. 

John  V,  Tsar,  brother  of  Peter  the 
Great.  17,  20,  105,  107,  108.  133. 

John  VI.  infant  Emperor,  133, 134. 


28o 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


John  Palaeologus,  Emperor  of  Byzan- 
tium, 76. 

Joseph  II,  Emperor  of  Austria,  152. 

Joukovsky.  V.  A.,  poet,  25.  172,  173, 
175, 181,  182,  183,  184. 190,  191,  212, 
213,  217,  239. 

Kachenovsky,  M.  T^  historian,  235. 

Kant,  176. 

Kantemir,  Prince,  writer,  137,  158. 

Karamsin,  N.,  writer.  25.  41,  55,  14S. 
172.  173,  175,  176.  178.  179.  180, 190, 
203,  213. 

Katkoff.  M..  180. 

Kavelin,  historian,  235. 

Kayalovich,  242. 

Kertch  Museum,  32. 

Kireyevsky,  writer,  Slavophile,  234. 

Klinger,  poet,  33. 

Kluchevsky,  professor,  54. 

Koltzoff,  A.  v.,  poet,  26,  212,  213.  214, 
216,  217. 

Kostomarov,  historian,  235. 

Kotoshikin,  G.,  162. 

Koulikovo.  Battle  of,  68,  91. 

Kourbsky,  Prince,  writer,  83,  90. 

Kraptovitsky,  secretary  of  Catherine 
the  Great,  152. 

Kremlin,  the,  76,  102. 

"  Kreutzer  Sonata,"  by  Count  Leo  Tol- 
stoi, 268. 

Kriidener,  Madame  de,  214. 

KrylofF,  I.  A.,  fabulist,  191. 

Laharpe,  philosopher,  150,  214. 

Lafayette,  General,  152. 

Lavater,  175,  176. 

Lefort,  Admiral  Fran9ois,  115. 

L6ger,  Louis,  39,  43,  46,  96. 

Leibnitz,  115. 

Lermontov,  M.  Y.,  poet,  26,  196,  209, 

210,  211,  212,  230. 
Leroy-Beaulieu,  A.,  7,  74,  96, 117,  126, 

243- 
Lessing,  174. 
"  Letters  from  the  Dead  House,"  by 

Dostoyevsky,  256. 
"  Letters  of  a  Russian    Tourist,"  by 

Karamsin,  175,  176. 
L6vesque,  176. 


"  Lives  of  Saints,"  by  the  Metropolitan 

Makarius,  91. 
Lobachevsky,  mathematician,  235. 
Lomonossov,  Michael,  scientist,  poet, 

36.  13s.  138.  139.  140.  141.  142.  143. 

144.  155.  156.  158.  169,  17s.  2"- 
Louis  XIII,  King  of  France,  17. 
Louis  XV,  King  of  France,  so. 
Louis  XVI,  King  of  France,  152. 
Lojje  de  Vega,  92. 
Lopouhin,  Eudoxia,  first  wife  of  Peter 

the  Great,  120. 
Luther,  169. 


Makarius,  Metropolitan,  writer,  90,  91. 

Macaulay,  Lord,  114. 

Macdonald,  22. 

Mahomet  II,  Sultan,  65. 

Mamay,  Tartar  Khan,  68,  69,  71. 

Marcello,  doge,  76. 

Maria  Theodorovna,  Empress,  wife  of 

Paul  1, 191. 
Maria  Theresa,  Empress  of  Austria, 

146. 
Martha   (Marfa)  Skavronsky,  wife  of 

Peter  the  Great,  123. 
Mary,  Queen  of  England,  78. 
Magnitsky,  mathematician,  115. 
Mass6na,  22. 

Matveyev,  Artamon,  17, 104. 
Maupertuis,  philosopher,  15b. 
Maximilian,  Emperor  of  Germany,  75, 

77- 
Maximus  the  Greek,  learned  monk,  90. 
Maykov,  A.  N.,  poet,  227. 
Mendeleyev,  chemist,  235. 
Menshikov,  Prince,  107, 123. 
M6rim6e,  ProsF>er,  86,  aoi. 
Mettemich,  Austrian  prime  minister, 

215- 

Methodius,  Greek  missionary  to  the 

Moravians,  39. 
Michael  Romanov,  Tsar,  16,  17,  20,  83, 

95.96. 
Michael  of  Chernigov,  Prince-martyr, 

66. 
Miklosich,  grammarian,A4,  44- 
Miller,  Dr.  Oreste,  258. 
Milton,  127. 


s. 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


28l 


Minin,  15,  16. 

Moli^re,  103,  161. 

Montaigne,  92. 

Morfil.  W.  R..  78. 

"  Moscow  Review,"  176. 

Moscow  University,  170,  171,  227. 

Mouromets,  Ilia,  epic  hero,  48. 

Nadejdfn,  professor,  227. 

Napoleon  I,  23,  24,  51,  102,  m,  154, 

173.  189.  197,  214. 
Napoleon  III,  216. 
Narishkin,  Nathaly,   mother  of  Peter 

the  Great,  105. 
Narva,  Battle  of,  no. 
Naschokin,  Ordyn,  104. 
Nekrassov,  N.  A.,  poet,  213. 
Nestor,  chronicler,  31,  43, 44,  45. 
Neuville,  de  la,  Polish  envoy,  104, 
"  Nevsky  Avenue,"   novel    by   Gogol, 

224. 
Nicholcis  I,  Ennperor,  25,  180,  215,  225, 

236. 
Nicholas  II,  Emperor,  75. 
Nicolai,  scientist,  176. 
Niebuhr,  historian,  235. 
Nikitin,  I.  S.,  poet,  213,  214. 
Nikon,  patriarch,  17,  97,  98,  99,  loi. 
Novikov,  N.  I.,  writer,  publisher,  170, 

171.  175- 

Odoyevsky,  Prince,  writer,  217. 

"  Old-fashioned    Farmers,"    novel    by 

Gogol,  224. 
Oleg,  Prince  of  Kiev,  58. 
Olga,  Grand  Duchess  of  Kiev,  37,  38, 

58. 
"  On  the  Eve,"  novel  by  TourgeniefF, 

255- 
Ookhtomsky,  Prince,  75. 
Osliab,  monk,  68. 
"  Ostromir,  Gospel  of,"  43. 
Otto  the  Great,  German  Emperor,  58. 
Otto  II,  German  Emperor,  58. 
Oustrialov,  N.,  108. 
Ouvarov,  Minister  of  Public  Education, 
•      191. 

Paul  I,  Emperor,  22,  23,  17X. 
Paul  II,  Pope  73. 


Pavlov,  professor,  237. 

Peresvet,  monk.  68. 

Peter  the  Great,  4,  5, 17, 18,  19,  ao,  ai, 

25.  75.  84,  95,  97,  100,  103, 104,  los. 

106,  107,  108, 109,  110,  III,  iia,  113, 

114,  115,  ii6,  117,  118,  119.  lao,  lai. 

122, 123. 124, 125,  127.  131,  132,  133, 

134. 136.  140,  142,  146,  15s,  163, 168, 

189,  196,  232,  233,  243. 
Peter  II.  Elmperor,  21,  121, 133. 
Peter  III,  Elmperor,  21,  123,  147, 148. 
Peter,  Metrofwlitan  of  Moscow,  67. 
Philip,  King  of  England,  78. 
Pissarev,  D.  I^  critic,  251,  25a,  354. 
Platner,  poet,  176. 
Pogadin,  M.  P^  historian,  2a8,  334. 
Pojarsky,  Prince,  15,  16. 
Polonsky,  poet.  227. 
Poltava.  Battle  of,  95. 
Pompkadour,  Marquise  de,  146. 
"  Poor  Lizzie,"  novel  by  Karamsin,  177. 
"  Portrait,"  the,  novel  by  Gogol,  224. 
Potiomkin,  Prince,  157, 162. 
Pougachof^  the  false  Peter  III,  148. 
Poushkin,  18,  22,  26,  63,  86,  140,  148, 
149.  157.  164,  169,  170,  172,  173,  179, 
184,  185,  186,  187,  188,  189,  190,  191, 
192,  198,  199,  200,  aoi,  202,  203,  207, 

208,  209,  210,  211,  212,  214,  217,  218, 

219,  220, 223,  228,  230, 258,  264,  369.  r 

"  Precipice,"  the,  novel  by  Goncharofi^ 

253- 

Printing-press,  founding  of  first,  90. 

"  Prodigal  Son,"  the,  comedy  by  Sim- 
eon of  Polotsk,  103. 

Prokopovich,  Theophan,  Metropolitan, 
123.136. 

Pseudo-classiasm,  141. 

Pypin,  A.  N.,  136, 141, 155, 171, 176, 179, 

238. 

Rabelais,  93. 

Ralston,  W.  R.  S.,  7, 49,  55,  213. 

Rambaud,  7.  50, 125. 

Ranke,  historian,  235. 

Razoumovsky  family,  139,  140. 

"  Revisor,"  the,  comedy  by  Gogol  (see 

"  Inspector"). 
Richardson,  novelist,  174. 
Romanov,  dynasty,  16,  81,  86,  89, 96. 


282 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


Ronsard,  poet,  i6i. 

Rossett,    Mademoiselle,   maid-of-hon- 

our,  217. 
Rostovfsev,  Coiint,  26. 
Roumiantsov,  Count,  157. 
"Rouslan    and    Ludmila,"    poem   by 

Poushkin,  184,  185. 
Rousseau,  J.  J..  153, 174.  176. 
Rurik,  Prince  of  Novgorod,  12, 15,  25, 

36.  37. 47.  S3.  58. 81.  83.  86. 
"  Russian  Law,"  13. 53,  54- 

Saint  Petersburg  founded,  110. 

Saint  Serge,  prior,  68. 

Saint  Simon,  2a 

Satires  by  Kantemir,  137. 

Schelling,  philosopher,  227,  229,  233. 

Schlegel,  141. 

Schloezer,  historian,  44,  135. 

Schuyler,  Eugene,  96,  125. 

Senate,  Institution  of,  115. 

Shakespeare,  10,  92,  167,  174,  207,  263, 

Sheremetiev,  Field  Marshal,  no. 

Shevyriofif,  writer,  45.  51,  227,  234. 

Shishkoff,  190,  215. 

Sigismund,  King  of  Poland,  15,  79. 

Simeon  the  Proud,  Grand  Duke  of  Mos- 
cow, 67. 

Simeon  of  Polotsk,  writer,  17,  103. 
♦"  Sixties,"  the,  an  ej)och,  239,  240. 

Sixtus  IV,  pope,  73. 

Skavronsky,  Martha  (see  Catherine  I). 

"  Sketches  of  a  Hunter,"  by  Tourge- 
nieff,  249,  259. 

Slavonians.  32,  33.  34. 35,  37, 43. 

Slavophiles,  25,  84,  125, 190,  229,  230, 

233.  234- 
"  Soilers,"  fraction  of  the  Slavophiles, 

260. 
Solovieff,  S.,  historian.  8,33, 34,  65, 102, 

106,  235. 
Solovioff,  Vladimir,  philosopher,  8, 228, 

23s.  265.  270. 
Sophia  Palaeologus,  wife  of  John  III, 

73- 
Sophia,  Princess  Regent,  sister  of  Peter 

the  Great,  17,  20,  100,  103, 104,  105, 

107. 
Sophia,  Princess  of  Brunswick  Blank- 

enstein,  wife  of  Tsarevitch  Alexis,  121. 


Soumarokov,  A.,  dramatist,  86,    143, 

145,  157,  160,  161. 
Souvorov,  Count,  22,  23,  148, 157. 
Srezncvsky,  slavist,  235. 
Stael,  Madame  de,  213. 
Sterne's  "  Sentimental  Journey,"  173. 
"  Story  about  Ivan  Ivanovich  and  Ivan 

Nikoforovich,"  by  Gogol,  224. 
Struve,  astronomer,  235. 
Sviatoslav,  Grand  Duke  of  Kiev,  37. 
Sylvester,  priest,  author  of  "  Domos- 

troi,"  91. 

Tacitus,  32,  33, 34. 

"  Taras  Boulba,"  by  Gogol,  217,  224. 

Tartar  Invasion,  13,  14,  63,  64,  65,  66, 

91- 

Tatischev,  P.  A.,  historian,  136,  137. 

Theodor,  Tsar,  son  of  John  the  Terri- 
ble, 86,  137. 

Theodor,  Tsar,  son  of  Alexis,  17,  97, 
100, 103, 105. 

Theophano,  wife  of  Otto  II,  58. 

Timmerraann,  113. 

Tolstoi,  Count  Alexis,  86,  87,  227. 

Tolstoi,  George,  78,  79. 

Tolstoi,  Count  Leo,  5,  26,  169, 189,  ao8, 
215,  218,  227,  236,  247,  248,  249,  257, 
260,  262,  263,  264,  265,  267,  268,  269. 

"  Tolstoiists."  265. 

TourgenieflF,  5,  26,  188,  208,  212,  218, 
236,  247.  248.  249,  250,  253,  254,  255, 
256,  257,  259,  262,  264. 

Tourgenieff,  President  of  the  Moscow 
University,  172. 

Trediakovsky,  writer,  143, 144, 145,  183. 

Tsar,  title  of,  80. 

Tschaikowsky,  P.,  X98. 

Ulrich,  Prince  Charles  Peter  of  Schles- 

wig-Holstein,  134. 
"Under-aged,"  the,  comedy  by  Von 

Wiezin,  161, 162. 

Valouyev,  historian,  slavophOe,  234. 
Varegues,  the,  37,  55. 
Venevitinov,  D.  V.,  poet,  230. 
Viollet-le-Duc,  76. 

Viozemsky,  Prince,  writer,  7, 160, 191, 
217. 


INDEX  OF   NAMES 


«83 


Vladimir,  Grand  Duke  of  Kiev,  baptizer 

of  Russia.  13,  38,  39,  47,  58. 
Vladimir  Monomah,   Grand  Duke   of 

Kiev,  13.  39,  48.  53,  56,  57.  58. 
Vladislav,  son  of  Sigismund  of  Poland, 

15- 
Vogue,  Vicomte  Melchior  de,  121,  aoa. 
Voltaire,   iii,    127,  145,  146.  149,  150, 

151.  153.  154.  176.  235. 
Von  Wiezin,  writer,  155,  161, 16a. 
Vsevolod,  Grand  Duke  of  Kiev,  fiither 

of  Vladimir  Monomah,  57. 

Wallace.  Mackenzie,  7,  126,  232. 

"  Wanderings  of  God's  Mother  through 
the  Tortures."  ecclesiastical  poem,  42. 

"  War  and  Peace."  by  Count  Leo  Tol- 
stoi. 189,  263,  264,  269. 


*■  Westemism,"  125.  23a. 
Wieland,  writer,  176. 
Wiii  of  Peter  the  Great,  hi,  123. 
"  Will  of  Vladimir  Monomah,"  13. 
Winckeliaaiin,  174. 
Wolf.  Christian,  philosopher,  139. 
Wolkonsky.  Prince  P..  185. 
Wolkonsky.  Prince  S^  187. 191.  255. 
"Word  about   Igor's  Figbts."  50,  51. 
91. 

Yaroslav  the  Wise.  Grand  Duke   of 

Kie'.  13.  S3.  54.  S*.  S*- 
Yaroslavna.  Princess,  wife  of  Igor,  50. 
Ya^ykov.  N.  M..  j>oet.  309. 

"  Zadonschina,*'  epic  poem,  91. 


'/^    f 


^f  i  ^^ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


■'Q^, 


■■^OadAIMl-i'; 


%] 


315 


'\ 


.C   1  ir.'!)  A  I)\' 


i#      ^OAnviian^ 


L  006  311  370  8 


(5> 


O 
I? 


o 


s 


^lOSANCElfX^ 


^     5 


"^aaAiNH-awv 


^MiBRARY6!^ 


% 


^1 


.^^^•lIBRARYy?/ 


1  S       SIJ  V 


so         O 


•^ 


^ 


-^ILIBRARY(3^ 


so       S 


\WtUNIV£R% 


.>;10SAN'GEI% 

O 


<riiJONVsoi^     %a3AiNn-3VkV 


^ILIBRARYQc.       -^^ 


'^d/OJllVJJO^' 


^ 


;j,OFCALIF0/?^ 


^<?Aava8ii-# 


.^WE•UNIVER% 


^lOSANGElfj^ 


%a3AINn-3WV 


^OFCAIIFO% 


^OAavaen-i^      ^6 


^>:lOSANCElfj>  -s^lLIBRARYQ<^ 


%J13AINn-3Wv 


^^•LIBRARYQc. 


^<!/0JllV3JO^^ 


\^\\mi^ 


aWEUNIVERS/a 


o 


C3 


O 
I? 


^lOSANCElfj^ 

O 


F^        5 


.^jOF-CALIF0% 


%a3AiNn3WV^        ^OAHvaaiH^ 


^OFCAIIFO% 


:5  -— '»    »-  £;» 


^MEUNIVERS/A 


, .     _  o 

<rji30NVS01^ 


mOA         ^^xNlllBRARY^^ 


^MEUNIVERS-//,         vvlOSANGElfj>  .>NlLIBRARY<9^^ 

;l^5  ilOri    sUf?  i 


